498 BLUNT-HEADED CACHALOT. 



somewhat sharpish form, fitting, as it were, into a 

 longitudinal bed or groove in the upper. The 

 teeth, at least the visible ones, as mentioned in 

 the generic character, are situated only in the 

 lower jaw, and when the mouth is closed, are re- 

 ceived into so many corresponding holes or cavi- 

 ties in the upper : they are pretty numerous, ra- 

 ther blunt, and of a somewhat conic form, with a 

 very slight bend or inclination inwards : there are 

 also, according to Fabricius, small, curved, flat- 

 tish, concave, and sharp-pointed teeth, lying al- 

 most horizontally along the upper jaw, though, 

 from their peculiar situation and size, they are 

 not visible like those of the lower ; being im- 

 bedded in the fleshy interstices of the holes which 

 receive the lower teeth, and presenting only their 

 internal concave surfaces to meet the latter when 

 the mouth is closed. The front of the head is 

 very abrupt, descending perpendicularly down- 

 wards, and on its top, which has been improperly 

 termed the neck by some authors, is an elevation 

 or angular prominence containing the spiracle, 

 which appears externally simple, but is double 

 within. The head is distinguished or separated 

 fi'om the body by a transverse furrow or wrinkle. 

 The eyes are small and black; and the ears or 

 auditory passages extremely small. About the 

 middle of the back is a kind of spurious fin, or 

 dorsal tubercle*, of a callous nature, not move- 



* This IS not constant, and seems to constitute the variety figured 

 by Schreber under the title of Physeter gibbosus. 



