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Show 468 PROF. FLOWER ON THE DELPHINID^*. [Nov. 20, Yet in default of any other convenient systematic work, Dr. Gray's Catalogue is constantly referred to, and his names and views of affinity are becoming so deeply rooted in zoological literature, that it appears time that an attempt should be made to supply something upon a more scientific basis, at all events to afford those who have not the means of examining the original types, upon which the Catalogue was mainly founded, some idea of what these types really are, and of the extent to which his divisions seem justified by the facts upon which he based them. In the present communication I have confined myself to the family Delphinida as defined in the article M A M M A L I A in the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' vol. xv. p. 398 (1883), or the Toothed Whales, which remain after separating the Physeterida (containing the Cachalots and the Ziphioids), and the three aberrant genera Platanista, Inia, and Pontoporia. This family is a perfectly natural one, containing a very large number of species, the main outlines of whose anatomical structure are essentially alike, but which present numerous modifications in small details. Among them there are certain forms, easily separated by well defined characters, and of which the structure is sufficiently known to permit of their being definitely characterized as forming divisions which may be considered as of generic value. These are Monodon, Delphinapterus, Phocana, Neomeris, Orcella, Orca, Pseudorca, Globiceps, Grampus, and perhaps Feresia, of which the skull only is at present known. After the separation of these, there is still a large residuum of species, too heterogeneous to constitute a single genus, but never yet satisfactorily divided into natural groups, unless the fifteen generic and subgeneric divisions of Dr. Gray's final revision contained in tbe ' Supplement to the Catalogue of Seals and Whales in the British Museum ' (1871) can be considered as such. It is to this residuum of the Dolphins, which in the article in the ' Encyclopaedia' above referred to is left in the old genus Delphinus in preference to adopting divisions the value of which at that time I had not had the opportunity of testing, that I have mainly addressed myself in the present communication. For this purpose I have made as full an examination as the time at m y disposal afforded of all the specimens in the British Museum, including the types of all Dr. Gray's genera and species, as also of those in the Museums of Paris, Leiden, the College of Surgeons of London, Cambridge University, and in several minor collections. The collections now being made in America I have had unfortunately no opportunity of examining personally, except in so far as they are represented in the United-States department of the International Fisheries Exhibition of the present year; but I am greatly indebted to the kindness of the Commissioners for the facilities they have afforded me in studying these, and in comparing them with European specimens. I am very far from thinking that the result of this examination has led to any thing like a complete knowledge of even the main outlines of the classification of this difficult group. Even for a |