CETACEA, an order of mammals which live in the ocean. Amongst them are the whales, the largest of creatures now existing; also the dolphins, the porpoises, and the dugong. They have fin like anterior extremities, the posterior extremities being absent, or rather their place supplied by a largo horizontal caudal fin or tail. They have no hair on their skin, have no outer ear, and the bones of the neck are so compressed as to leave the animal without the appearance of a neck. Some of them eat plants, or are phytophagons ; some are zoophagous, or animal-eaters. seven new species of. cetaceans have recently been de scribed from the Bay of Bengal, six of the family Delphinidoe, the seventh belonging to the sperm whales Physeteridze, to be called Physeter (Enphy setes) simus. Professor Owen described the fol lowing species from collections made mostly near Vizagapatam by Sir Walter Elliot,—Delphints fusi formis, D. godama, D. lentiginosus, D. maculiven ter, and D. pomeegra ; also Phocmna brevirostris, and Physeter simus. The Cetacea are divided by naturalists into two great families, the Balmnidm or whales, the Delphiuidm or porpOis0.' Whales.
(a) Balmna mysticetus, the Right Whale. B. Linnaeus. I B. Rondolettii, Willoughby. B. vulgaris, Brtsson.
Right whale, . . ENG. I Var. a. Nord kapper whale.
Whalebone whale, . Nord caper whale.
Greenland whale, . „ Var. b. Rock-nosed whale.
According to Lesson, inhabits all the seas of the globe.
(b) Balmna marginate, Gray, the western Australasian whale, has very long and slender baleen, with a rather broad black edge on the outer or straight side.
(c) Balmna australis, Des Moulins.
B. antarctica, Lesson.
Right whale of South Sea Common black whale of whalers. Sir James Rose.
Southern whalebone whale of Nunn.
Inhabits the South Seas ; and multitudes were seen by Sir James Ross in very high latitudes. It is of a uniform black colour.
(d) Balmna Japonica, the Japan whale, is an inhabitant of the coasts of Japan, which it visits periodically. Its head is covered with barnacles.
(e) Balmna antarctica.
B. antipodarum, Gray.
New Zealand whale. I Tuku Peru„New Zealand.
Inhabits the New Zealand ocean. • Finners.
(f) Balmnoptera Blyth, is the Indian fin whale. B. boops, L., the great rorqual, and B. musculus, L., the lesser rorqual, are both found in European seas.
(g) Megaptera kuzira, the kuzira. It inhabits the Japanese seas.
(h) Physalis Iwasi, the Japan finner. It is very rare. In 1760, one 25 feet long was cast ashore at Kii.
(i) Physalis antarcticus, Gray, inhabits the New Zealand seas.
(j) Physalis Braziliensis, Bahia finner, was brought from Bahia.
(k) Physalis australis, the southern finner, inhabits the seas of the Falkland Islands.
Sperm Whales, Physeteridm.
(l) Catodon macrocephalus, northern sperm whale.
Physeter macrocephalus, I P. trumpo, Bannaterre.
Linn. Catodon trumpo, Gerrard.
P. gibbus, Sehreber. Cetus macrocephalus, Oken.
Its principal food are the sepiactaz or cuttlefish, but it swallows small fishes.
(m) Catodon Colneti, the Mexican sperm whale, is an inhabitant of the North Pacific, the South Seas, and the equatorial oceans.
(n) Catodon polycyphus, South Sea sperm whale. The cachalot or sperm whale inhabits the Southern Ocean.
(o) Catodon kogia, Gray, taken near the Cape of Good Hope. It has a short head, and is sup posed to be the young of C. polycyphus.
(p) Beluga Kingii, has been taken off the coasts of Australia, where it represents the white whale B. catodon, Catodon macrocephalus.
(q) Physeter simus, Owen ; Euphyseles simus, a new species.
(r) Globiocephalus Indicus, Blyth, the Indian Ca'ing whale. In 1852 a shoal (schule or school of sailors) was carried by a current into the salt water lake near Calcutta.
Delphinx, Dolphins.
(a) Neomeris phoemnoides, Gray.
Delphinus melas, Ternus.
A dolphin Of the Indian Ocean.
(b) Phocmna communis.
Phoenna ltondolettii, Will. I Delphinus phomna, Linn. Common porpoise, or porpesso.
(c) Grampus sakamata, Schlegel.