The Beaked Whales of the Family Ziphiidae: An Account of the Beaked Whales of the Family Ziphiidae in the Collection of the United States Museum...True, Frederick W. (Frederick William)
Science
The Beaked Whales of the Family Ziphiidae: An Account of the Beaked Whales of the Family Ziphiidae in the Collection of the United States Museum...
True, Frederick W. (Frederick William)
Beaked whales
_21975. Charleston, South Carolina._—Young female. (Type of _Z.
semijunctus_.) The teeth are slender, conical, and acuminate, largest at
the base and tipped for about 2 mm. with white enamel. The remainder of
the teeth is coated with a thin layer of cement. The teeth in what
appears to be their natural position protrude horizontally from the
mandible for about 17 mm. They are slightly curved upward near the tip
and are oval, or elliptical, in section, the transverse diameter being a
little less than the vertical diameter. They are a little flattened
externally. The surface is smooth. They are open at the root, and hollow.
(Pl. 38, figs. 1, 2; pl. 22, fig. 1.)
Doctor Manigault, curator of the Charleston Museum, wrote to Professor
Cope regarding these teeth, as follows:
Another peculiarity of the head consists in the lower maxillary bones
being provided each at its point with a single small and very sharp
tooth. These were not noticed during the dissection, owing to their
being too much embedded in the integuments.[46]
_20971. Barnegat City, New Jersey._—Adult female. The teeth are slender,
cylindrical, and irregularly pointed at both ends. The tips show what
appears to be an inner core of dentine which has been worn down nearly to
the cement coating and somewhat fractured. The cement coating is several
millimeters thick, but does not increase the diameter of the teeth near
the middle, so that they remain irregularly cylindrical throughout. The
surface of the cement is rough and irregular. The root is short, conical,
and closed at the end. These teeth are nearly straight. As they have been
extracted from the jaw and the latter is broken it is not possible to
distinguish which is the upper and which the lower surface, but they are
irregularly oval in section, and a little compressed. (Pl. 38, figs.
3-5.)
In my original notes on this specimen, I recorded that there was a small
pair of teeth behind the larger ones described above. Mention of these
will be made again later. (See p. 57.)
_22069. Bering Island._—Adult female (?). The teeth are in position in
this specimen and are nearly horizontal in position, but a little
inclined upward and toward each other. They do not extend beyond the tip
of the jaw nor up to the level of the upper surface of the symphysis, but
protrude about 13 mm. beyond the alveoli on the side. They are rather
slender, somewhat fusiform, blunt at both ends and slightly curved
upward. The surface is irregular. They are nearly round in section. The
root is closed, and the apex shows what appears to be a core of dentine
surrounded by cement. There is a depression on the inner side near the
root. These teeth are remarkable as intermediate in form between those of
the preceding specimen and those of the specimens next to be mentioned.
(Pl. 38, figs. 6, 7; pl. 22, fig. 3.)
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