D0LPHIN8. 
435 
spout-holes are separate, but are covered with a common flap. The pectoral fin is moderate in 
size, being about four feet long, and rather triangular in its form, and the dorsal fin is long 
and slightly sickle-shaped. The head is remarkably large, and probably exceeds in length the 
fourth of the entire bulk. 
This species is of considerable dimensions when adult, as it is known to measure from fifty 
to sixty feet in length. In the lower jaw is a bountiful supply of teeth, white, powerful, and 
conical. These teeth are very variable in number, in different species, varying altogether from 
twenty -two to forty-four. An equal number of cartilaginous sockets are placed in the upper 
jaw, into which the conical teeth are received when the mouth is closed. The teeth that are 
placed in the middle of the jaw are larger and heavier than those of the front or base. Some 
of these teeth will exceed nine inches in length, and weigh more than eighteen ounces when 
perfectly dried. 
The root of each tooth is hollow in the centre to the depth of several inches, and is so 
deeply buried in the jaw, that the projecting portion of the largest tooth rarely exceeds three 
inches. The teeth range from seven to nine inches in length. These teeth are very white and 
polished, are conical in their shape, tolerably sharp while the animal is young, but become 
blunt as the creature increases in years and dimensions. 
The dimensions of one these animals have been very accurately given by Sibbald. 
In total length it measured between fifty-two and fifty-three feet, its girth at the largest 
part of the body was rather more than thirty-two feet, and as it lay on the ground the height 
of its back was twelve feet. The lower jaw was ten feet in length, and was furnished with 
forty-two teeth, twenty-one on each side. Each tooth was slightly sickle-shaped, and curved 
towards the throat. From the tip of the snout to the eyes was a distance of twelve feet, and 
the upper part of the snout projected nearly five feet beyond the tip of the lower jaw. The 
eyes were remarkably small, about the size of those of the common haddock. As may be 
supposed from the popular name of this animal, the color of its skin is almost uniformly 
black. The throat is larger in proportion than that of other Whales. One of these animals 
was thrown ashore at Nice, in the month of November, 1736. 
When the upper part of the head was opened, it was found to contain spermaceti, which 
lay in a mass of two feet in thickness in the usual locality. The blow-hole is graphically 
termed the “lum” or chimney. 
In concluding this brief history of the Whales, it must be once more remarked, that, in 
spite of the earnest labors of many excellent observers, our knowledge of these wondrous 
creatures is as yet exceedingly rudimentary, and even the genera are not clearly ascertained. 
The native Greenlanders seem to possess a very large amount of information on this subject, 
and are extremely accurate in their knowledge of the various Whales and their habits. It 
has therefore been happily suggested, that succeeding voyagers should take advantage of this 
circumstance, and should use their best endeavors to extract from those illiterate, but very 
practical savages, the knowledge which they really possess. 
The Dolphins do not possess the enormous head which characterizes the true whales, 
and have teeth in both jaws, although they are liable to fall out at an early age. The blow- 
holes are united together, so as to form a single lunate opening, which is set transversely on 
the crown of the head. When first born, the young Dolphins are remarkable for their very 
great proportional dimensions, being little less than one-fourth the size of the parent, and 
affording a wonderful contrast to the marsupials, whose young are of such minute proportions 
when first born. 
From the circumstance that the lower jaws are only furnished with two teeth, the rare 
and curious animal which is represented in the accompanying illustration is sometimes scien- 
tifically termed the Diodon, or two-toothed animal. But as this generic title has already been 
appropriated to the urchin-fishes, the name has been more recently changed into Ziphius. 
In the animals which belong to this genus, the spout-holes are placed upon the top of the 
head, the throat is furnished with two diverging furrows, and the teeth are only two in num- 
ber, rather large in proportion to the skull, slightly curved and compressed, and are situated 
