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XXV.—On the Occurrence of Ziphius cavirostris in the Shetland Seas, and a Comparison of its Skull with that of Sowerby's Whale (Mesoplodon Sowerbyi)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2013

Extract

The illustrious Cuvier, in his treatise “ Sur les Ossemens fossiles,” described and figured an imperfect skull which had been obtained, in 1804, by M. Raymond Gorsse in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, near Fos, on the southern coast of France. It had been found on the sea-shore in the preceding year by a peasant. Cuvier recognised it to belong to an undescribed genus of cetaceans, to which he gave the name of Ziphius; and from the deep hollow which it possessed at the base of the rostrum, he named it Ziphius cavirostris. From the condition of the bones, and the general characters of the specimen, he judged it to be a fossil. Cuvier's description, though brief, and from a mutilated specimen, yet clearly states the most salient features of the skull.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1872

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References

page 759 note * Tome v. première partie, 350, fig. 3, pi. xxvii. Paris, 1825.

page 759 note † Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 3d series, xiv. 1850; also “ Zoologie et Paléontologie Françaises,” lre ed. p. 154, et 2me ed. p. 287. M. Gervais has, in order to give an opportunity for making a comparison, reproduced figures of Cuvier's specimen, both in his “ Zool. et Pal. Françises,” and in pl. xxi.of the “ Ostéographie des Cétacés.”

page 760 note * Ann. des Sciences Nat. xv. 1851, p. 49.

page 760 note † Nouvelles Archives du Muséum. Paris, 1867, p. 55.

page 760 note ‡ Catalogue of Seals and Whales in the British Museum, London, 1866; and Supplement, 1871.

page 760 note § Comptes Rendus, 1866, Aug. 6; and in Nouvelles Archives du Muséum. Paris, 1867.

page 760 note ║ Revue Zool. Soc, Cuvier, 1842, pp. 207, 208.

page 760 note ¶ Plate xxi., figs. 8 and 9. Paris.

page 760 note ** Op. cit., p. 58, e.s.

page 760 note †† December 7, 1871.

page 761 note * Mém. Couronnés de l'Acad. Royale de Belgique, 6th June 1863. Collection in octavo, vol. xvi. 1864. Plate i.

page 761 note † Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865, and Catalogue of Seals and Whales, 1866.

page 761 note ‡ British Fossil Cetacea of the Red Crag, in the Memoirs of the Palæontographical Society, vol. xxiii. 1870.

page 761 note § Annals of Natural History, 1866, vol. xvii. pp. 94, 303, plates iii., vi.; also in Anales de Museo Público de Buenos Aires, Tomo i. 1868. PI. xv.–.xx.

page 768 note * No figure or description of the Villa Franca specimen in the Jena Museum, so far as I can ascertain, has yet been published.

page 768 note † Report of British Association, 1846, p. 226, and British Fossil Cetacea of the Red Crag, p. 27.

page 768 note ‡ Introduction to the Osteology of the Mammalia, p. 191. London, 1870.

page 771 note * British Miscellany, plate i. p. 1. London, 1806.

page 771 note † Trans. Roy. Irish Academy, Part X. 1869.

page 771 note ‡ Nature, Aug. 11, 1870. [Professor Macalister writes me that the bones of this specimen are still undergoing maceration. Dr J. E. Gray states. “ Annals of Nat. Hist.,” August 1872, that Mr W. Andrews informs him of the receipt of a perfect male skeleton of this rare whale at the Dublin Museum, being the third specimen taken on the west coast of Ireland.—Note, October 1872.]

page 771 note § Hist. Nat. des Cétacés. Paris, 1836 ; p. 114, plate vii. Figured also by Gervais in “ Ostéographie des Cétacés,” plate xxvi.

page 771 note ║ Figured by Gervais in “ Ostéographie des Cétacés,” plate xxvi.

page 771 note ¶ Dumortier. Mém. de l'Acad. Roy. de Belgique, tom. xii. 1839 ; and Van Beneden in Mém. Couronnés Coll. in. Oct., tom. xvi. plate iii. 1864.

page 771 note ** Van Beneden in “ Bulletins de l'Acad. R, de Belgique,” xxii. 1866.

page 772 note * Duvernoy called it Mesodiodon densirostre (Ann. des Sc. Nat., 1851, xv. p. 58, plate ii.), and Gervais has figured it in “Ostéographie des Cétacés,” plate xxv., as Dioplodon Sechellense.

page 772 note † Proc. Zool. Soc., 1870, p. 426 ; and Gray's Synopsis, p. 102.

page 772 note ‡ Proc. Zool. Soc., 1865; and Synopsis, p. 101. Beautifully figured as Z. Layardi, by Professor Owen in his Memoir in Trans. Palæontographical Society, vol. xxiii. plate i.

page 772 note § Annals of Natural History, 1871, vii. 368.

page 772 note ║ Nature, Dec. 7, 1871, p. 105.

page 772 note ¶ Annals of Natural History, 1871, vii. 368.

page 772 note ** Trans. New Zealand Institute, vol. iii. plates xiv. xv. p. 125 e.s. In Dr Hector's notes it is stated that plate xiv. refers to a specimen captured in Porirua Harbour, 1866, but this is evidently an error, as Mr Knox informs us that only a rude sketch and a few measurements of that animal were preserved. I am indebted to Dr Lauder Lindsay for the opportunity of consulting these Transactions.

page 772 note †† Annals of Natural History, 1871, viii. p. 116.

page 772 note ‡‡ Zoologie et Paléontologie Françaises, 2d ed. p. 289. Ostéographie des Cétacés, plate xxiv. Also M. Deslongchamps in Bull. Soc. Linn. Normandie, t. x. 1866. Dr Gray, as if to add one more to the multitude of generic names he has coined in his classification of the Cetacea, calls this specimen Neoziphius (Synopsis, p. 101).

page 773 note * I have from time to time pointed out this cranium to various naturalists, amongst whom I may mention Dr Günther, Dr Acland, and Professor Van Beneden. From a reference to it in Professor Flower's article in “ Nature,” already quoted, it would appear that M. Van Beneden had supposed the skull to be at the present time in the University Museum.

page 779 note * Konig. Svenska Vetenskaps—Akad. Handlingar. Band 9, No. 2. Stockholm, 1871.