Family 13. ORCADÆ.

Orca, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 278; Synops. Whales & Dolph. p. 8.

Head rounded, scarcely beaked. Dorsal fin falcate. Skull heavy; wings of sides expanded; beak short, broad; triangle in front of the blowers flat. Lower jaw thick in front; symphysis short. Teeth large.

Fig. 7.

Orca stenorhyncha.

Fig. 8.

Orca capensis.

Fig. 9.

Orca stenorhyncha.

Fig. 10.

Orca capensis.

Vertebræ 51 or 52:—C. 7. D. 11 or 12. L. and C. 33.

The first three cervical vertebræ united into one mass by their bodies and dorsal processes, the rest more or less free. Pectoral fin broad and rounded at the end. “Carpal bone single, in a large mass of cartilage.”

1. ORCA.

Orca, Gray, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 70.

Beak of the skull from the notch before the orbit the same length as from the notch to the condyles; the width at the notch three-fifths of the length of the beak. The occipital end of the skull slightly concave. Condyles of moderate size. Lower jaw broad on the sides, very thick and solid in front.

A. The beak of the skull tapering and narrow in front, end narrow. Gladiator.

1. Orca stenorhyncha. (Figs. 7 & 9.)

B.M.

Orca stenorhyncha, Gray, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 71, figs. 1 & 3 (skull).

Orca gladiator, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 279.

Inhab. North Sea. Skeleton from Weymouth, and a skull from the English coast. B.M.

Intermaxillaries narrow in the middle and rather dilated in front; but the extent of dilatation varies in the two specimens.

The examination of the four skulls of Orca found on the English coast show they belong to two very distinct species, one with a much more attenuated beak than the other.

B. Beak of the skull spatulate; sides of the hinder half nearly parallel, of the front half arched and converging; end rounded, middle rather wider than at the notch. Orca.

2. Orca capensis. (Figs. 8 & 10.)

B.M.

Orca capensis, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 283; P. Z. S. 1870, p. 71, figs. 2 & 4.

Delphinus orca, Owen.

Grampus gladiator, Smith, South-African Zool. p. 126.

Inhab. Cape of Good Hope (Viney, B.M.; Villette, Mus. Coll. Surg. no. 1139); Seychelles Islands (Swinburne Ward).

In the Cape specimen the intermaxillaries are nearly of the same width in the whole of their length; in the Seychelles skull they are contracted in the greater part of their length, and rather dilated in front.

Mr. Swinburne Ward has kindly sent a very beautiful skull of a “Killer” taken in the sea near the Seychelle Islands.

To determine this skull I have been induced to compare the skulls of the genus in the British Museum, which it is very necessary to do from time to time, as specimens gradually accumulate, and often arrive when I am occupied on other subjects, and consequently are put aside for future examination.

In this examination I have observed that in the ‘Catalogue of Seals and Whales’ I have confounded with the skull described under the name of Orca capensis one from the North Pacific, the former being the true Orca capensis, and the skull now received from the Seychelles Islands being of the same species.

The skull figured in the ‘Zoology of the Erebus and Terror’ under the name of O. capensis is from a specimen received from the Zoological Society, to which it was presented by Capt. Delville, who said he obtained it in the North Pacific (?). It is quite a different species, for which I propose the name of Orca pacifica. I doubt its being from the North Pacific, as I believe there is a skull of the same species in the Paris Museum, collected by M. Eydoux, and said to have come from Chili.

3. Orca africana.

Orca gladiator, var. australis, Gervais, Ostéogr. Cét. t. 47. f. 2.

Inhab. Algoa Bay.

Skull much smaller, 24 inches long.

4. Orca latirostris.

B.M.

Orca latirostris, Gray, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 76.

Orca gladiator, Gervais, Ostéogr. Cét. t. 48. f. 2, 3.

Delphinus orca, Cuv. Oss. Foss. v. tab. 22. fig. 4 (skull).

The skull very similar to that of the Cape species, but much smaller; but the beak is rather narrower, the intermaxillaries moderately broad, slightly dilated in front.

Inhab. North Sea.

An adult skull from the coast of Essex (361 a), and another without the lower jaw, are in the British Museum.

These skulls of the smaller British, or, rather, European Orca are distinguishable from those of O. gladiator by the smaller size and the broader, rounder nose—and from the skulls of the Cape-of-Good-Hope species by being of a much smaller species, and having a depressed crown of the head.

I believe the skull figured under the name of Delphinus orca by Cuvier, Oss. Foss. vol. v. tab. 22. figs. 3, 4, represents this species, from the form of the beak and the narrowness of the occiput: this figure has been copied by various British and other authors.

1. Orca gladiator, var. arcticus (O. Eschrichtii), Gervais, Ostéogr. Cét. t. 47. fig. 3.

Inhab. Faroe Islands.

2. Orca gladiator, var. europæus, Gervais, Ostéogr. Cét. t. 47. f. 4.

Orca gladiator, Gervais, l. c. t. 48. f. 1.

Inhab. the Atlantic.

Skull about 40 inches long.

3. Orca gladiator, var. europæus, Van Beneden & Gervais, Ostéogr. Cét. t. 47. f. 5.

Delphinus orca, Gervais, Zool. et Paléont. Française, t. 37. f. 3, 4.

Inhab. Mediterranean, Cette.

Skull about 22 inches long. It is about the same size as the Orca from Algoa Bay; but the brain-cavity is rather broader and the beak is not so acute in front.

Gervais, in the ‘Zoology and Paleontology of France,’ figures the skull of a young Delphinus orca, taken on the coast of Cette, which is now in the Museum of Paris. It appears to belong to this species; or it may be that the Orca of the Mediterranean does not grow to the usual size; or, again, it may be of a different species; for the skull is only fifty-eight centimetres long and thirty broad.

5. Orca magellanica.

Orca magellanica, Burmeister, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 3. xviii. p. 101, t. 9. f. 5; An. Mus. Publ. de Buenos Ayres, i. p. 373, tab. 22; Gray, Synops. Whales & Dolph. p. 8; P. Z. S. 1870, p. 76.

Inhab. Patagonia. Mus. Buenos Ayres.

This species, according to the figure, is very like Orca latirostris.

6. Orca tasmanica.

Orca gladiator, var. australis, Gervais, Ostéogr. Cét. t. 47. fig. 1.

Inhab. Tasmania. Skull about 32 inches long.

7. Orca rectipinna.

Orca rectipinna, Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1869, p. 12.

No white spot behind eye.

Inhab. California.

8. Orca atra.

Orca ater, Cope, l. c. 1869, p. 12.

Black above and below, with white spot behind eye.

Inhab. Oregon, Aleutian Islands.

The following are the measurements of the different skulls of the genus in the collection of the British Museum; they were carefully taken with calipers by Mr. Edward Gerrard.

O. stenorhyncha.O. capensis.O. latirostris.O. pacifica.O. intermedia.
361 b.361 c.1065 b, c.361 a.1065 a.362 a.
in.lin.in.lin.in.lin.in.lin.in.lin.in.lin.
Length from end of nasal to centre of occipital condyle350370390330366140
Length of nose17618622617018070
of tooth-line13614016013014649
of lower jaw276300310260296113
Breadth at the notch10611012010012649
at the orbit18019620018021086
at temple above18019620018020090
at middle of beak901001109610036
at intermaxillaries333346333609
2. OPHYSIA.

Ophysia, Gray, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 76; Synops. Whales & Dolph. p. 8.

Skull:—beak from the notch before the orbit the same length as from the notch to the condyle; width at the notch two-thirds the entire length of the beak. Intermaxillaries very narrow, slightly dilated in front; brain-cavity broad; occiput deeply concave. Lower jaw very broad on the sides, very thick and solid in front.

1. Ophysia pacifica.

B.M.

Ophysia pacifica, Gray, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 76.

Delphinus globiceps, Grant, P. Z. S. 1833, p. 65.

Delphinus orca, Eydoux, Mus. Paris.

Orca capensis, Gray, Zool. Ereb. & Terr. p. 34, tab. 9, not Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 283; Gervais, Ostéogr. Cét. t. 48. fig. 1.

Orca (Ophysia) capensis, Gray, Synops. Whales & Dolph. p. 8, tab. 9 (skull).

Inhab. North Pacific (Capt. Delville, R.N.).

Skull, from the Zoological Society’s collection.