OF THE RED CRAG. 



27 



and forms in which the cartilage continued forward from the prefrontal ' septum narium,' and 

 resting upon the groove of the spout-shaped vomer, has been ossified in our Red Crag ZqMi, 

 to indicate their ' specific ' distinction. Dr. Gray uses this character in the case of 

 Ziphiiis indicus, in which the cartilage called by its definer, Van Beneden, "cartilage vome- 

 rienne " is ossified, and in the nearly allied, if not identical, species, showing, also, ossifica- 

 tion with superior convexity of the ' mid-tract' (figs. 4, 5, 14'), to support the imposition 

 of the generic name ' Petror/iyncJius' I am disinclined, however, to refer my ZipJiius gihhus, 

 with the like modification of Van Beneden's 'cartilage vomerienne,' to that nominal 

 gen us. ^ 



Having given careful and impartial consideration to the characters which have been 

 proposed, or allowed to be inferred, as those of generic value in other instances, I crave 

 leave to continue, in reference thereto, to submit the reasons for a different estimate of 

 such characters. 



Epiodon, Bafinesque [Schmaltz). — One of the characters assigned to this genus by its 

 founder appears to have been due either to anomaly or to accidental mutilation of the in- 

 dividual : — " Sous-famille. Point de nageoire dorsale. G. 1, Catodon, Lac. 2, Notaphrum, 

 R. do., sp. 3, Epiodon, R.," &c." The dorsal fin is characteristically small in ZipMus, but 

 is never, normally, wanting. Rafinesque's genus has been subsequently accepted with 

 rectification of the fin-character, and the addition of a dental one,^ founded on the position 

 of the characteristic mandibular pair of teeth, viz. 'in front of the lower jaw,' or near the 

 anterior end of the symphysis, and on some modification of the shape of those teeth, 



^ "In Ziphius ossification extends along the cartilaginous continuation of the prefrontals forward to 

 near the end of the premaxillaries." — " Report on the Archetype and Homologies of the Vertebrate 

 Skeleton," 'Report of British Association,' 8vo, 1846, p. 226. I have been gratified by seeing, at length, 

 this homology recognised, and trust we shall hear no more of the vomer appearing upon, or occupying 

 any part of, the upper face of the cetacean rostrum. " Les fosses nasales ctant refoulees a la base du 

 crane, les maxillaires avec les intermaxillaires et le vomer forment une masse compacte de trois os emboites, 

 au centre desquels ou trouve ordiaairement la partie cartilagineuse de I'Bethmoide qui termine en avant la 

 colonne vertebrale." " Rarement ce cartilage est ossifie : nous n'en connaissons des exemples que dans les 

 ziphioides." — Van Beneden and Gervais, ' Osteographie des Cetaces, vivants et fossiles,' 4to (texte), fol. 

 (planches), p. 4 : no date ; but the first Part, with pis. i, ii, xxi, xxiii, was received by me Nov. 2, 1868. 



2 'Analyse de la Nature,' &c., r2mo, Palerme, 1815, p. GO. 



3 Gray, 'Catalogue of Seals and Whales,' 8vo, 1866, p. 340. The Author quotes "Rafinesque, Precis 

 Soraiol. 13, 1814 (no character)," op. cit., p. 341 ; but the latter remark would apply more truly to the 

 genus Kugia proposed in the 'Zoology of the Erebus and Terror,' "Cetacea," 4to, 1846, p. 22; with the 

 additional remark by Rafinesque, " les noms trop barbares doivent etre modifies," ' Principes fondamen- 

 taux de Somiologie,' &c., 8vo, 1814, 'Regies Gene'riques,' No. 41, p. 30. It may not be out of place 

 to quote the following from the same judicious Naturalist of Palermo : — " II estabsurde d'indiquer ou etablir 

 un Genre, sans lui assigner des caracteres, puisque ces caract^res en sont les bases generiques et que sans 

 difl"erences characteristiques il ne pourrait exister reellement ; on doit en consequence les exprimer par une 

 definition, toutes es fois que Ton indique un Genre nouveau, sans quoi autant vaudrait ne pas tantaliser la 

 curiosite en mentionnant son vain nom." — Op. cit., p. 19. I have that confidence in the common-sense and 



