“The Narwhal and the Beluga appear to separate themselves from all the rest, by certain well-marked structural conditions, especially the characters of the cervical vertebræ. As these two animals are in almost every part of their skeleton nearly identical, even to the number of the vertebræ and phalanges, I am disposed to look upon the exceptional dentition of the former as an aberration of secondary importance, and to unite the two genera into a distinct subfamily, placing it next to the Platanistidæ.”—Flower, l. c. p. 114.
1. BELUGA.
Beluga, Gray, Cat. S. & W. pp. 231, 306, 393; Synops. Whales & Dolph. p. 9.
Lateral wing of the maxilla over the orbit shelving downward. Teeth conical in both jaws, early deciduous. Male without any spiral horn-like tooth. Fingers short. Metacarpal bones surrounded with cartilage. Bladebone with large coracoid and acromion processes. Second cervical vertebra with a large dorsal process.
Vertebræ 50:—C. 7. D. 10. L. and C. 33.
1. Beluga catodon.
B.M.
Beluga catodon, Gray, l. c. p. 307, fig. 61; Synops. Whales & Dolph. p. 9, tab. 29. f. 3 (tongue).
Delphinus canadensis, Gray, Synops. Whales & Dolph. t. 5 (head false, with beak).
Beluga albicans, Gervais, Ostéogr. Cét. t. 44. f. 1-5.