CETACEA. 
147 j 
One has been thrown upon our coasts {D. mieropteriis, Cuv.), remarkable for the small size and backward posi- | 
tion of its dorsal fin ; it attains a length of fifteen feet, and loses all its teeth at an early age. [Only a single 
I specimen of this remarkable species has ever been obtained, which was cast upon the shore near Havre : its form 
I is slender and elongated, and the head is externally attached to the body by a distinct neck. No teeth were 
I discovered in either jaw in the recent state ; but after the gums were removed, a few rudimentary teeth were 
found in the lower jaw, as often happens in the upper jaw of the Cachalots. This animal constitutes the Aodon, 
I we believe, of Lesson.] 
I Another, which also sometimes occurs in our seas (H, rostratus, Cuv.), has a slender muzzle, externally all even 
;j with the head, and twenty-one teeth on each side of both jaws. Its dorsal is of the ordinary size, 
i The Soosoo of the Ganges (D. gangeticm^ Roxburgh) should be separated from the foregoing, having the 
i spiracle in a longitudinal line, and slender jaws swoln at the end. [Its teeth are thirty on each side above and 
! below, and according to M. F. Cuvier, the long symphysis and the intermaxillary crests approximate it to the 
i Cachalots.] It ascends very high up the Ganges, and is probably the Platanista of Pliny, [which might be 
Ij adopted as its generic designation]. 
[ The Porpoises {Phoccena, Cuv.) — 
I Have no beak [the largeness of the front-head compensating for its non-extension], but a short 
] muzzle, uniformly convex. 
|i The Common Porpoise {Delph. phoecena, Lin.), compressed and trenchant teeth, of a rounded form, to the 
|! number of twenty-two or twenty-four on each side of both jaws; blackish above, the under-parts white. It is 
'I [one of] the smallest of the Cetacea, not exceeding four or five feet in length, and is very common in all our 
seas, where it associates in vast herds. 
jj The Grampus (Z). orca and B. gladiator, Auct.). — Large conical teeth, a little crooked, eleven on each side above 
I and below, the posterior transversely flattened : body black above and white beneath ; a whitish crescent-shaped 
|i mark over the eye ; and the dorsal fin elevated and pointed. It is the largest of the Dolphin group, becoming 
;■ from twenty to twenty-five feet in length ; and is a cruel enemy to the Whale, which it attacks in troops, tor- 
menting it till it opens its mouth, when they devour the tongue, 
i^! A smaller species is occasionally met with on our coasts (B. aries, Risso ; [Ph. griseus, F. Cuv.] ), which loses 
I its upper teeth at an early age, and retains but few of the lower : its dorsal fin is less elevated and placed further 
I backward than in the Grampus, which latter is the true Aries of the ancients. The Epaulard ventru of Bonaterre 
I presents a similar form ; but Hunter’s specimen was eighteen feet in length, whereas the present species does not 
j exceed ten. 
j! [The species with globular heads compose the 
I Globicephalus, Lesson.] 
ji The Deductor, or Ca’ing Whale {Belph. globiceps, Cuv. [GZ deductor, Scoresby] ).— Head globular, with long and | 
i| pointed swimming paws : attains a length of more than twenty feet ; and is black, with a white streak from the j 
throat to the anus. This species lives in troops of several hundreds, conducted by old males ; and is sometimes j 
I thrown upon our coasts. It has from nine to thirteen teeth on each side above and below, but loses all of them j 
l! with age. [A beautiful second species {Gl. Rissii) exists in the Mediterranean, and two others have been deli- j 
neated and described.] \ 
The Delphinapterus, Lacepede, — 
i! 
i Merely differs from the Porpoises in having no dorsal fin. [This name has more recently been con- 
i fined to such as have a beak like the Dolphins, the others constituting the 
Beluga, Lesson. 
j To the latter subdivision appertains] 
I The White Beluga {Belph. leucos, Gm. ; B. albicans, Fabr.), with nine teeth on each side above and below, 
I thick and blunt throughout ; a yellowish-white skin ; head externally convex like that of a Porpoise, [but more 
|i approaching to globular], and size that of a Grampus. It inhabits all the glacial seas, and sometimes ascends 
I rivers to some distance. [Is occasionally met with on the British coasts. 
i! To the restricted 
I belongs] 
Delphinapterus — 
1| The White-beaked Dolphin of Peron (D. leucoramphus. Per. ; [Belphinapterus Peronii, Less.], an inhabitant of 
I the Austral seas, the head of which is but slightly convex and rather pointed, and the muzzle, part of the swim- 
I ming-paws, and all the under parts of the body, lustrous-white ; the superior portion black. It has from thirty- 
I eight to forty-two teeth on each side above and below.* 
* M. Rafinesque speaks of a Dolphin with two dorsal fins [on which I bnt as they only saw it at a distance, and half-immersed in the waves, 
he bestows the appellation O^vffpterusl ; and M. M. Quoy and Gaymard there may have been some optical delusion, 
j saw one they have named D. rhinoceros, Voy. de Freycinet, ii. f. 21 ; I 
