218 
REINHARDT ON PSEUDORCA CRASSIDENS. 
we also take the different osteological differences mentioned above into consideration, it seems to 
me, that we must come to the conclusion, that the species here treated of cannot find its place 
much more naturally in the genus Grampus than among the Globiocep/iali. 
The next question is then, whether our dolphin is a killer {Orca) P We have seen that it 
has been considered as such by J. E. Gray, who was, however, only acquainted with it from the 
cranium discovered in the English fen, and this opinion of Dr. Gray’s may at all events be 
considered as a proof of my not having overrated, in the preceding pages, the resemblance between 
our dolphin and the killer in this part of the skeleton. But this supposition, though, perhaps, 
quite justifiable, as long as the skull and the cervical vertebra? were all that we had to go by, 
cannot now be maintained any longer, the whole animal being known both as to its external 
appearance and its osteology. Our dolphin, come back, as it were, from the dead, appears to 
me to present sufficient differences in both these respects, to entitle us to consider it as the type 
of a special genus, the place of which will be between Orca and Grampus, and for which I 
propose the name of Pseudorca. The most essential external distinguishing marks between 
this and the genus Orca will be found then in the shape of the body, generally speaking, more 
slender and extended in length ; in the small and pointed pectoral fins, so completely different 
from the large, very broad, and oval pectoral fins of the killers; and finally in the smaller and 
differently shaped back-fin; but besides these the snout of the killers, less blunt than that of our 
species, and the very peculiar colouring characteristic of the former, might we think also afford 
distinguishing characters of the two genera. The osteological characters of the two genera 
have been sufficiently illustrated above. This new genus will form a connecting link, hitherto 
wanted, between the genus Orca and the genera Grampus and Globiocephalus, and thus it will, 
if necessary, serve to prove how unsafe the opinion is, that the killers, from a systematic point of 
view, ought most properly to be considered as a division among the toothed-whales of more than 
generic worth, “ as a group or family by themselves ,” 1 an opinion lately expressed, but as I 
think neither sound in itself, nor, indeed, supported by any defensible reason. 
One observation about this species must still find a place here. The female thrown ashore 
at Asnaes was stated to be nineteen feet long, and though its skull is, indeed, no larger than 
those of the two other, and smaller, individuals, yet the other bones of its skeleton which l 
succeeded in obtaining for my use, will show that it really must have been an animal not a 
little larger than the latter. The dolphin captured in the harbour of Kiel, also a female, which 
Professor Behn was kind enough to inform me was pregnant, but most probably only for the 
first time, aud which, accordingly, we suppose was scarcely an old and full-grown animal, 
measured little more than sixteen feet. The male thrown ashore at Middelfart, most undoubtedly 
rather an old animal, was, on the other hand, about fourteen feet long, at the most. Thus the 
question remains whether in the Pseudorca, there may not possibly be a difference in the sizes 
of the different sexes, and whether the females are not larger, but at the same time, perhaps, 
provided with a head comparatively smaller, than that of the males. The question can of course 
only be solved by more numerous opportunities of observation, but I think it worthy of 
consideration. 
been able to learn that such a want of teeth in the ca’ing-whale has ever been observed in the Faroe 
Islands. 
• Oversigt over det Kongelige Dauske Yidenskabernes Selskabs Forhandliuger,’ Mai, 18C2, p. 87. 
