THE NATIONAL INSTITUTION. 
195 
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW EXTINCT SPECIES OF DOLPHIN; FROM 
MARYLAND. 
By R. IIARLAN, M . D., F. L. S. Lond ., Corresp. Member Nat. Institution. 
ORDER CETACEA. 
Genus Delphinus. 
D. Calvertensis. 
This interesting 1 fossil consists of the skull, nearly complete, densely petrified, 
very weighty, tinged of a deep, black, ferruginous color; characteristic marine 
fossil shells adhere to its base. A portion, tested with a solution of muriatic acid, 
demonstrated the absence of animal matter. The external border of the superior 
maxillary bone is slightly broken on each side. Its discovery is due to the active 
researches of Mr. Francis Markoe, Jun., Corresponding Secretary of the National 
Institution, who obtained it from the Calvert cliff’s, on the right bank of the Chesa¬ 
peake bay, State of Maryland, along with other characteristic fossils. We refer, 
with confidence, to the preceding memoir by Mr. Conrad, for the details of this 
tertiary deposit. Many other osteological remains, of an interesting kind, have 
recently been obtained by Mr. Markoe from the same locality. 
The present specimen belongs to Cuvier’s first sub-genus, or “ les Dauphins d 
long bee.” On comparison with the numerous species of living dolphins, it is found 
distinct from all of them. It approximates the Delphinapterus leucoramphus, of 
Peron,* but differs in its various measurements, number of teeth, and in the arrange¬ 
ment of the palatine bones. 
It is unique hitherto in America. Indications of the existence of this genus, in a 
fossil state, occur occasionally in the geological reports of the State of Maryland.! 
Four species of fossil Delphinus have been described by Cuvier, (ut supra.) 
The first consists of a nearly complete skeleton, discovered by M. Cortesi, on the 
Appenine hills, south of Fiorenzuola. 
The second species consists of portions of the upper and lower jaws of a Del¬ 
phinus, disinterred from a faliiniere, (marine debris,) in the department of Landes, 
noticed by Cuvier under the name of “ Dauphin a longue symphyse de la mdchoire 
inferieure ut supra , page 312. 
Third species, also from the same locality, with marine shells, consisting of a 
portion of the lower jaw. It is closely allied to the common dolphin, or D. 
* Vide Cuvier. Ossemens Fossiles, vol. 5, part 1, page 289, plate 21, figures 5 and 6 ; edition 1823. 
t “In an essay, On the Physical Geography of Maryland , which I furnished in 1837, to the Transac¬ 
tions of the Maryland Academy, (says Dr. Ducatel, Geologist of the State of Maryland,) I took occasion 
to say, in referring to the fossilliferous deposits of the tertiary formations of the State, that ‘the most 
constant attendants upon these marine shells are the ribsand vertebrae of a species of Delphinus , the 
palatal bones of some fish, and a great number of shark’s teeth of all sizes.’ In the same essay, alluding 
to the living genera of marine animals that are found in the Chesapeake bay, I say, ‘The largest aquatic 
residents of the Chesapeake bay, at least in the portion of it within the limits of Maryland, are the por¬ 
poise, ( Delphinusphoccena ,) and the sturgeon, (Acipanser bavirostrum ,) although occasionally some of 
the smaller cetacea venture nearly all the way up in pursuit of their prey, during the spawning season of 
the herring and shad ; several individuals of the beluga whale, ( Delphinus , leucas,) having been caught in 
the spring of the last year,’ 8cc. The skeleton of the last mentioned is now in the Baltimore Museum.’ 9 
No. 2. IT 
