xlviii PROLEGOMENA 



this. It may easily have been exhumed in excavations on the 

 coast. Of the identity of this animal Mr. T. C. Heysham 

 speaks with absolute confidence in his letters to the late 

 Richard Bell, Esq., M.D. The first mention of it occurs in a 

 letter of October 19, 1850, in which he expresses his former 

 expectation that General Wyndham would have made ' a further 

 search for additional remains of the Thick- toothed Grampus/ 

 On the 26th of November he again reminded Mr. Bell of his 

 desire for ' a further search for some additional notes of the 

 Thick-toothed Grampus.' On the 29th of March 1851, Heysham 

 wrote again : ' It is now so long since I heard anything relative 

 to the old jaw of the Thick-toothed Grampus, that, to tell you 

 the truth, the subject had entirely escaped my recollection, and 

 the first glance of your obliging letter of the 28th instant 

 startled me not a little. On running my eye over the com- 

 mencement, "In re Orca crassidens" I at once concluded some 

 limb of the law had dragged me into the Court of Queen's 

 Bench, or into that still more abominable hole, the Court of 

 Chancery. However, I rejoice to say that the contents of your 

 letter soon dispelled my delusion. I am glad to find that 

 General Wyndham has at last commenced his improvements, 

 although greatly disappointed that no additional remains of this 

 animal have so far been discovered. Should nothing further be 

 found, I shall be inclined to think that this jaw has been met 

 with at some remote period on the coast, and conveyed to the 

 castle for some purpose or other.' When referring to the 

 remains of bones, afterwards proved to be those of the Red 

 Deer found at St. Bees, Heysham wrote to Dr. Bell on the 22d 

 of December 1851 : 'I take it for granted you have heard of 

 the enormous bones that have lately been found in the vicinity 

 of St. Bees. If the account is really true, the Old Jaw at the 

 castle will be quite thrown into the shade, not only as regards 

 size, but also with respect to antiquity, etc' In T. C. Heysham's 

 time, this species was supposed to have been long extinct ; but 

 recent records of fresh specimens have disproved this hypothesis. 



