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(Owen, l. c., p. 41). A pair of teeth are also developed near the front of the upper jaw. With these mandibular and dental characters seem also to be coördinated a less developed dorsal fin, comparatively longer temporal fossæ, the deep fissure limiting the front part of the supraorbital ridge; the more deflected jugals, and the more rounded lateral ridges of the hinder portions of the maxillaries. is certain that a generic name will sooner or later be desired for the form so distinguished, it may be called on account of the symmetrically rounded lower jaw Callignathus. The known species are as follows:

As it

1. KOGIA BREVICEPS Gray ex Blainv. Habitat, Cape of Good Hope. 2. KOGIA GRAYI Gray ex Wall. Habitat, Australia, near Sydney. 3. KOGIA MACLEAYI Gray ex Krefft. Habitat, Australia, near Sydney. 4. KOGIA FLOWERI Gill. The form is robust; the dorsal very low, "posterior to which is a sharp ridge as if belonging to the fin, extending towards the tail;" the color black or blackish above, whitish or yellowish-white below, and upwards and forwards, including the end of the snout.

The lower jaw at its symphysis below is very compressed, has concave sides, and its greatest depth is at about the posterior third of the symphysis; the dentigerous area extends backwards nearly to the anterior point of the deltoid sinus of the inner wall of the dental canal, and is much incurved: behind the area, the margin is nearly straight and horizontal.

The teeth are very long and slender, very much curved outwards and backwards, and acutely pointed; there are about fourteen or fifteen in number on each side.

The animal on whose jaw and portrait the species has been based, was obtained a short distance from Mazatlan, in 1868, and measured nine feet in length; its blubber yielded seventy-five pounds of oil. No details as to its mode of capture were sent by Colonel Grayson, but it was remarked that "it is said to be a strange fish in those waters."

5. CALLIGNATHUS SIMUS. Habitat, India, coast of Vigigapataw, Madras Presidency.

9. On the Nomenclature of Kogia. A few words concerning the nomenclature of the genus seem to be demanded.

Dr. J. E. Gray, perceiving certain discrepancies between the figure and descriptive notice by Blainville of a skull from the Cape of Good Hope, referred by the latter author to the genus Physeter, and named P. breviceps, conferred

upon it in 1846 the barbarous generic name Kogia, with the following diagnosis:

"Head moderate, broad, triangular. Lower jaw wide beneath, slender, united by a short symphysis in front. Jawbone of the skull broad, triangular, as broad as long."

*

In 1854, Mr. W. S. Wall, † in a "History and Description of the Skeleton of a New Sperm-whale [etc.]", described in addition a new pygmy species, to which he gave the name Euphysetes Grayi, evidently inclining to the opinion that it would prove to be congeneric with Kogia breviceps, but on account of the inapplicability of Gray's generic diagnosis, refusing to identify it with that form; he "regretted that a barbarous and unmeaning name like Kogia should have been admitted into the nomenclature of so classical a group as the cetacea."

The name Kogia has also been repudiated, and Euphysetes adopted by Professor Owen, who has acknowledged the generic identity of the species on which they were respectively based; in reference to it, that profound naturalist has remarked that he has "that confidence in the common sense and good judgment of [his] fellow countrymen and labourers in philosophical zoology which leads [him] to anticipate a tacit burial and oblivion of the barbarous and undefined generic names with which the fair edifice begun by Linnæus has been defaced."

Dr. Gray, defending his name, has observed that "Mr. MacLeay objects to the barbarous name of Kogia;" and the learned doctor of philosophy, with charming naïvete, adds: "I have been asked, what does Euphysetes mean? should it

* Lest this character might be inexplicable, it is proper to state the author meant the rostral portion of the skull.

†The work quoted has been lately attributed to Mr. W. S. MacLeay, but as Mr. Wall has assumed the responsibility of authorship with the evident consent of Mr. MacLeay, there seems to be no good reason for accepting ex parte evidence in the case, or even for inquiring into the relations of the parties with regard to the contribution of scientific knowledge and literary skill; in this opinion, I simply concur with Professor Flower.

Owen, Mon. Brit. Foss. Cetacea Red Crag, No. 1, 1870, p. 27; (Ray Society).

not have been written Euphycetes, with a c?" The suggestion of Dr. Gray's questioner can scarcely fail to elicit a smile at the ignorance displayed in the question, or perhaps a laugh at the execrably complicated pun that may have been intended, and which appealed to evidently unappreciative ears. The name is a literal rendition of the Greek (Eu, augmentative, and us, blower), and, as explained by the framer, simply means "a good or easy blower."

Notwithstanding, however, the objections to the name Kogia, we adopt it, as Professor Flower has also done, because of its priority, while we recognize the justness of the criticisms upon it. But if we were to pursue the course recommended in repudiation of it, hosts of generally admitted generic names would have to be superseded, among which would be most of those of the author of the name in question. Linné himself furnished a precedent for the adoption of names other than those derived from the classical languages, although he admitted such with cautiousness and a due regard for sense and euphony. Analogous names, proposed though they may be without like reserve, must in the judgment of the great majority of systematists be retained, lasting monuments to the discredit of their authors, and an opprobrium to zoology.

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171.

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longitudinally bisected.

172. Lower Jaw of Kogia Floweri; the dotted lines indicate the approximate form of the hinder portion of the ramus.

173. Skull of adult Physeter macrocephalus, seen from the side.

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bo, basioccipital; eo, exoccipital; so, supraoccipital; p, parietal?; s, squamosal; ƒ, frontal; pl, palatine; j, jugal: sh, stylohyoid; bh, basihyoid; th, thyrohyoid.

NOTE. All the figures of the ten illustrations of Cachalot (Physeter macrocephalus) are copied from Professor Flower's monograph "On the Osteology of the Cachalot or Sperm-whale (Physeter macrocephalus)," in Trans. Zool. Soc., London, Vol. vi, pp. 309–372, 1868, and those of Callignathus simus, from Professor Owen's memoir "On some Indian Cetacea collected by Walter Elliot, Esq.," in Trans. Zool. Soc., London, Vol. vi, pp. 87-116, 1866. The lower jaw of Kogia Floweri is from nature.

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