544 DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



rarest of which is the dolphin of the Ganges, sent 

 hy M. Wallick, director of the East India com- 

 pany's botanical garden at Calcutta. We see 

 amongst them also the delphinus globiceps^ which 

 we owe to M. Lemaout, who selected it from 

 a number of the same species run aground on the 

 coast of Britany ; and lastly, the skeleton of a 

 large seal (manatus), and that of the dugong 

 {halicore, Illig.), lately sent from Sumatra by 

 MM. Diard and Duvaucel. In the middle of the 

 rooms are supported by iron bars, three whales, 

 procured at the Cape by M. Delalande. The 

 horny substance called whalebone, which lines 

 the interior face and the edges of the upper jaw, 

 when the animal is alive, has been preserved in 

 its proper place. The extremity is divided into 

 numerous filaments, which serve as a net, by 

 means of which the whale catches the small fish 

 and mollusca on which it feeds. This substance 

 is much employed in the arts, and is produced 

 only by the largest and the smallest of the three 

 species in our possession. On each side of the 

 window, at the upper end of the room, we see 

 the head of a whale and that of a cachalot {phy- 

 seter macrocephalus , Cuv.),each measuring i4feet 

 in length : an entire skeleton of this last, more 

 than Go feet long, is seen in the adjoining court. 

 The substance known under the name of sper- 



