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observed by him at Scoulton on the occasion of our visit to that 
place, and our thanks are especially due to that gentleman, as this 
paper is the only practical result of the past year’s excursions. 
To our indefatigable Hon. Secretary we are as usual greatly 
indebted. During the past year he has contributed two papers, 
the first of which occupied our April and June meetings, and 
consisted of an elaborate and interesting account of those Cetacea 
inhabiting or occurring in the British seas; a paper the production 
of which must have involved a considerable amount of time and 
labour; it was illustrated with maps and diagrams also drawings of 
some of the typical species. After stating the difficulty attending 
the study of the order, consequent upon the unwieldy size of 
many of the species, and the great rarity of others, he pointed out 
the place assigned them in the animal kingdom, and gave a general 
outline of their classification, which, he said, is based in the first 
instance upon the absence or presence of teeth ; the sub-order in 
which no teeth are present being designated Mystacoceti or 
Whale-bone Whales, whilst those in which true teeth are found, 
embracing by far the larger number of individuals, are grouped 
together under the sub-order Odontoceti or toothed Whales. To 
the former division belong the Northern Bight Whale, which 
has probably never occurred on our shores, (the Bight Whale of 
the British coast there is every reason to believe was the small 
Atlantic species Balcena biscayensis, now extinct or of great 
rarity,) and the Boquals, five species at least of which are known 
to have occurred in the seas surrounding our Islands. To the 
toothed section, a numerous sub-order represented by about fifteen 
species known to have occurred in our seas, belong the Sperm 
Whale, Grampus, Narwhal, Dolphin and common Porpoise. He 
then proceeded to take each British species separately, giving an 
account of its habits and distribution, and exhibited a table which 
he had drawn up, showing at a glance the chief points of difference 
between the British Whale-bone Whales, which he thought might 
be useful in identifying specimens cast on shore. Mr. Southwell 
incidentally mentioned that formerly Lynn and Yarmouth were 
actively engaged in the Whale fishery, which was discontinued in 
