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Supplement to the catalogue of seals and whales in the British MuseumGray, John Edward

Science

Supplement to the catalogue of seals and whales in the British Museum

Name: Supplement to the catalogue of seals and whales in the British Museum
Author: Gray, John Edward

Gray, John Edward

Seals (Animals); Whales

Total length                            5   1·0
    Cervical vertebræ seven, anchylosed     0   1·3
    Dorsals fourteen                        0  11·5

Lumbar and caudal forty-eight, thirty-four of which have processes, and
may be considered lumbars.

                                               in.
    Skull:—
      Length, total                            14·0
      Length of beak                            7·5
      Width at notch                            3·5
      Width at orbits                           6·0
      Width of intermaxillary at blow-hole      2·7
      Width at middle of beak                   2·5
      Height of occiput                         5·7
    Length of flappers                         12·0
    Scapula, transverse diameter                4·5
    Scapula, longitudinal diameter              6·5

This specimen was harpooned outside Wellington Harbour, and appears to be
the common Dolphin of the coast.

Lower jaws of two others.


7. Electra crucigera.

    Lagenorhynchus cruciger, _Gervais_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ tab. 36.
    fig. 3.


8. Electra thicolea.

                                                                      B.M.

    Electra thicolea, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 7, t. 36.

    Lagenorhynchus thicolea, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 271. no. 7.

Beak of the skull narrow behind, twice as long as the width at the notch.
Teeth small, six in an inch.

Inhab. West coast of North America.


9. FERESA.

    Orca (Feresa), _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 77.

The beak of the skull from the notch rather shorter than from the notch
to the condyle, depressed, flat above, gradually tapering in front; the
width at the notch two-thirds of the entire length of the beak. Lower jaw
slender, narrow and thin in front, teeth not reaching the notch.

This reexamination has convinced me, and also, I believe, Mr. Flower,
that the skull described under the name of _Orca intermedia_ belongs to
a very small species, and is not “the skull of a very young individual,
probably of one of the large species,” as Mr. Flower supposed, apparently
from the examination of the figure (see Flower, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 425).
Indeed, when the animal is known, I should not be at all astonished if
it should prove to be a species of _Electra_ rather than of _Orca_, or
perhaps a new genus.

This skull has many resemblances to those of some of the species of
_Electra_; the teeth are much smaller than those of _Orca_.


1. Feresa intermedia.

                                                                      B.M.

    Orca intermedia, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 283; _Zool.
    Erebus and Terror_, p. 34, tab. 8 (skull); _P. Z. S._ 1870, p.
    77.

Inhab. ⸺?

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Supplement to the catalogue of seals and whales in the British MuseumGray, John Edward

Science

Supplement to the catalogue of seals and whales in the British Museum

Gray, John Edward

Seals (Animals); Whales

Total length                            5   1·0
    Cervical vertebræ seven, anchylosed     0   1·3
    Dorsals fourteen                        0  11·5

Lumbar and caudal forty-eight, thirty-four of which have processes, and
may be considered lumbars.

                                               in.
    Skull:—
      Length, total                            14·0
      Length of beak                            7·5
      Width at notch                            3·5
      Width at orbits                           6·0
      Width of intermaxillary at blow-hole      2·7
      Width at middle of beak                   2·5
      Height of occiput                         5·7
    Length of flappers                         12·0
    Scapula, transverse diameter                4·5
    Scapula, longitudinal diameter              6·5

This specimen was harpooned outside Wellington Harbour, and appears to be
the common Dolphin of the coast.

Lower jaws of two others.


7. Electra crucigera.

    Lagenorhynchus cruciger, _Gervais_, _Ostéogr. Cét._ tab. 36.
    fig. 3.


8. Electra thicolea.

                                                                      B.M.

    Electra thicolea, _Gray_, _Synops. Whales & Dolph._ p. 7, t. 36.

    Lagenorhynchus thicolea, _Gray_, _Cat. S. & W._ p. 271. no. 7.

Beak of the skull narrow behind, twice as long as the width at the notch.
Teeth small, six in an inch.

Inhab. West coast of North America.


9. FERESA.

    Orca (Feresa), _Gray_, _P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 77.

The beak of the skull from the notch rather shorter than from the notch
to the condyle, depressed, flat above, gradually tapering in front; the
width at the notch two-thirds of the entire length of the beak. Lower jaw
slender, narrow and thin in front, teeth not reaching the notch.

This reexamination has convinced me, and also, I believe, Mr. Flower,
that the skull described under the name of _Orca intermedia_ belongs to
a very small species, and is not “the skull of a very young individual,
probably of one of the large species,” as Mr. Flower supposed, apparently
from the examination of the figure (see Flower, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 425).
Indeed, when the animal is known, I should not be at all astonished if
it should prove to be a species of _Electra_ rather than of _Orca_, or
perhaps a new genus.

This skull has many resemblances to those of some of the species of
_Electra_; the teeth are much smaller than those of _Orca_.


1. Feresa intermedia.

                                                                      B.M.

    Orca intermedia, _Gray_, _Cat. Seals & Whales_, p. 283; _Zool.
    Erebus and Terror_, p. 34, tab. 8 (skull); _P. Z. S._ 1870, p.
    77.

Inhab. ⸺?

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Supplement to the catalogue of seals and whales in the British Museum

Supplement to the catalogue of seals and whales in the British Museum

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