84 
MAMMALIA. 
call of a bird ; on this account, the seamen often term them 
Sea- canaries / It is rarely that the regular whalers kill a Beluga, 
their swiftness and activity giving them more trouble than the 
oil is worth. I did hear, however, of one whaler that killed 
several hundreds in the course of a summer ; but this is almost 
an isolated case.”* According to Professor Eschricht, the Beluga 
contains enormous quantifies of Cuttle ( Sepia loligo), Haddock 
( Gadus ceglifinus), and large Prawns. In August, 1793, two 
males were cast ashore on the beach of the Pentland Frith, some 
miles east of Thurso ; and one was killed on the eastern Scotch 
coast in June, 1815. A very few other instances are on record 
of the Beluga visiting the British Islands. 
An animal of this species was kept for some time alive in a 
tank in North America. f It was sufficiently well trained during 
the time that he was in confinement to allow himself to be har- 
nessed to a car, in which he drew a young lady round the tank. 
It learned to recognise its keeper, and would allow itself to 
be handled by him, and at the proper time would come and put 
its head out of the water to receive the harness or take its food. 
This one was less docile, however, than an example of Delphinus 
tursio , which was for a time with it in the same tank.J A second 
species of Beluga ( B . Kingii) has been obtained off the coasts of 
Australia, but not much is known of it. 
In the second edition of the British Museum Catalogue of Seals 
and Whales , by Dr. J. E. Gray, published in 1866, the Cetacea are 
divided into two suborders, Cete and Sirenia ; and the Cete into 
two sections, Mysticete and Denticete. The Mysticete consist of 
the Toothless Whales and Rorquals, and the Denticete of the Cacha- 
lots, Dolphins, and other genera that have teeth. Two families 
are recognised of the Mysticete, viz., Balcenida (the Whale), and 
Balcenopterince (the Rorquals), &c. ; and the Balcenopteridce are 
arranged into three subfamilies, viz., Mcgapterince (the Hunch- 
back), Physalince, and Balcenopterince. Of a fossil species, Palceo - 
cetus Sedgeicickii, however, some remains of which have been 
found in the Norfolk “crag” deposit, Dr. Gray remarks, that 
“ probably when it is better known it will form a family ( Palceoce - 
tided), to be placed between Balcenidce and Balcenopteridce .” Of 
* Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1868, p. 551. 
f At Barnum’s Museum, New York. 
J Poston Journal of Natural History , 1863, p. 330. 
