BRITISH FOSSIL CETACEA 



Fig. 12 represents the skull of a Ziphius^ stranded near Havre, at the mouth of the 

 Seine, which is said by Suriray to have shown four 

 parallel longitudinal furrows in the skin of the throat, 

 about half an inch deep. 



It would be well to look for this structure in other 

 recently stranded Ziphil: It may be a distinctive 

 chiiracter, but would then be cutaneous and specitic — 

 nothing more. 



Compared with Ziphius Sowerbii, Z. micropterus is 

 longer and more slender. The base of the premaxillary 

 (22') shows the infundibular expansion of the begin- 

 ning of the naso-preniaxillary canal {d) (as in Ziphius 

 planirosiris, Cuv.).'* 



The rostral parts of the premaxillaries are separate 

 above, the ossitication of the prefrontal gristle not ex- 

 tending beyond the part marked 14, in advance of 

 which is exposed, as usual, the deeply situated cana- 

 liculate surface of the vomer which su])ported the 

 cartilage. 



The maxillaries (21) show one large (6) and several 

 small nervo-vascular outlets [a—c] and the lateral ridge (e). 



' This skull, ascribed to a genus Delphinorhynchus, is described 

 as the type of the Delphinidce in the ' Histoire Naturelle des 

 Cetaces' of Fr. Cuvier, 8vo, p. 7.t et scq. 



2 Dr. Gray ascribes to the Ziphius [Belphinorfnjnclms) micro- 

 pterus stranded at Ostend in 183;") the character of " tliroat with 

 four parallel slits beneath " ('Catalogue of Seals and Whales,' 8vo, 

 1866, p. 3.'i2) ; but I do not find this noticed in the memoir by 

 Dumortier, 'Memoires de rAcadeniie Royale de Brnxflles,' tome 

 xii, containing the only description of this recent Ziphius with which 

 I am acquainted. The incidents ascribed by Gray to "the female 

 caught at Havre, on the 22nd August, 182S " (' Catal. of Seals and 

 Whales,' p. 3.')2), are suspiciously like those narrated by Dumortier 

 of his Ostend specimen : — " Sa longueur totale, depuis I'exiremite du 

 museau jusqu'a celle de la queue, dtait 3 metres 4.5 centimetres, ou 

 environ 1 1 pieds." " Le Delphinorliynque d'Ostende fut conserve' 

 vivant hors de I'eau pendant deux jours, mais sans rien voiiloir manger. 

 En vain voulut on lui offrir du pain humecte et d'autres substances 

 alimentaires, il les refiisa constammcnt. Souvent il poussait de forts 

 nuigissements," &c. — Dumortier, loc. cit., pp. 5 and 6. 

 Ziphitis micropierus. ^ " L'entr6 d'un canal, Icgerement creusee cu entonnoir."— 



{Mesodiodon microjilerum, Duv.) Cuv., ' Oss, Foss.,' p. 58. 



