470 PROFESSOR TURNER ON THE GRAVID UTERUS AND 



from the womb. Observing another female in an apparently ' interesting con- 

 dition,' we got one of the men to make a longitudinal opening in the abdomen, 

 which exposed a gravid uterus of large dimensions. To render the transmis- 

 sion of the parts safer, I ran off the uterine liquor before packing the uterus in 

 a barrel. I found the number of teeth on each side of each jaw to be eleven, 

 i >r forty-four in all. The teeth of many, I suppose the adults, were quite flat, 

 or entirely worn down until flush with the gums. When this was not the case, 

 they were of considerable length, and the teeth of one jaw fitted into the 

 intervals between the teeth of the jaw opposed to it." 



From the examination of the foetus, and of the skull of one of the adult animals, 

 I can substantiate the supposition of Mr Gatherer, that these animals were 

 Orcas. By recent systematic writers the Orca, or Killer Whale, is no longer 

 included within either the genus Grampus, or Delphinus, or Phocoena, with 

 one or other of which it had been associated by many naturalists. The special 

 characters which it exhibits are now considered to have a generic value, and 

 the name Orca gladiator is applied to this creature. 



I shall now pass to the description of the specimen, and shall consider — 

 1st, the uterus and appendages ; 2d, the foetal membranes ; 3d, the position 

 and general form of the foetus ; A&li, a comparison of the cetacean form of 

 placentation with that of other mammals. 



The Uterus and Appendages. — The uterus consisted of a cervix, a corpus, 

 and of two cornua (Plate XVII. fig. 1). The various subdivisions of the organ 

 were invested by a continuous layer of strong peritoneal membrane, which 

 extended in a broad double fold from the concave border of each cornu to 

 the side and surfaces of the cervix uteri. The cervix was 7 inches long, and 

 the corpus uteri 14 inches. The two cornua curved outwards from the body, 

 which seemed indeed to bifurcate at its anterior border into the two horns. 

 The left horn, about twice the size of the right, measured, along the convexity 

 of the curve, 6 feet 7 inches from the angle of bifurcation to the junction of 

 the tip of the horn with the Fallopian tube. The right cornu, along the cor- 

 responding border, measured 3 feet 6 inches. The greatest breadth of the left 

 cornu was 19 inches, of the right 9 inches. 



A strongly muscular " ligamentum rotundum," flattened at the sides, was 

 attached to each horn, 3 inches from its free end, and lay in relation to the 

 inferior part of the broad ligament. Each horn terminated in a well-defined 

 Fallopian tube, upwards of one foot in length, which lay in the free margin of 

 the broad ligament, and terminated externally in a widely dilated trumpet- 

 shaped mouth, the wall of which was formed of a duplication of the peritoneum. 

 The dilatation was so wide that the entire ovary could be included within it. 

 Immediately on the uterine side of this mouth was an elongated, deep, pouch- 

 like recess, formed by a folding of that part of the broad ligament which 



