This reexamination has convinced me, and also, I believe, Mr. Flower, that the skull described under the name of Orca intermedia belongs to a very small species, and is not “the skull of a very young individual, probably of one of the large species,” as Mr. Flower supposed, apparently from the examination of the figure (see Flower, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 425). Indeed, when the animal is known, I should not be at all astonished if it should prove to be a species of Electra rather than of Orca, or perhaps a new genus.
This skull has many resemblances to those of some of the species of Electra; the teeth are much smaller than those of Orca.
1. Feresa intermedia.
B.M.
Orca intermedia, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 283; Zool. Erebus and Terror, p. 34, tab. 8 (skull); P. Z. S. 1870, p. 77.
Inhab. ⸺?
This is the skull of a full-grown animal, and yet it is not so large as the skull of a newly born specimen of Orca. Mr. Flower, judging from the figure, believed it to be the skull of a very young animal; but on examining the skull along with me he became satisfied, from the solidity and definite form of the bones, that it is the skull of a full-grown though not aged specimen.
10. LEUCOPLEURUS.
Leucopleurus, Gray, P. Z. S. 1866, p. 216; Synops. Whales & Dolph. p. 7.
Beak of the skull rather flat above and elongate, bent up on the edge in front of the notch, narrow behind, as long as, or slightly longer than, the length of the brain-case. Teeth-line reaching nearly to the notch. Teeth small, five in an inch. First and second cervical vertebræ united by their bodies, third and fourth by the spinous processes.