94 Dr. H. Burmeister on a neiv Cetacean. X. — Pi'eliminary Account of a new Cetacean captured on the shore at Buenos Ayres. By Dr. Hermann Burmeister*. [Plate III.] On the 8th of August of the present year^ at 9 o'clock in the morning, a large whale was observed by the boatmen of Senor D. Juan Antonio Nunez, near the Custom-House Wharf. It was seen near the shore, raising itself from time to time out of the water and then disappearing for some moments, during which it spouted a stream of water with much vehemence. The men approached this animal in a boat and fired two shots at it, which appeared to take no effect; however, urged by curiosity, they came so near that a son of Seiior Nuilez was able to give the animal two stabs in the throat. On this it spouted a violent stream of blood, and died after struggling for two hours. Dragging it first to their ship, the men afterwards took it to the wharf, where it was lauded by the steamboat-crane, put into a cart, and transported to the Museum, being generously presented to that establishment by Senor Nufiez. The scientific study of this animal, which I immediately com-menced, showed me that it belongs to a new group of the Dolphins, very near the genus Ziphius of Cuvier {Delphinorhynchus of Blainville and Dumortier), but differing in the position of the large teeth of the lower jaw, placed, not in the centre of each side of the jaw, but at the very point, as in the genus Hyperoodon-\ . The animal, belonging thus to a group intermediate between Hyperoodon and Ziphius, f propose should be named Ziphiorrhyn-chus cryptodon, placing it, in the natural classification, before Ziphius and after Hyperoodon. I subjoin a general description in order to acquaint the scientific public wdth its special and distinctive characteristics. Ziphiorrhynchus cryptodon, PI. III. The general external form of the animal exactly resembles that of Ziphius ; the head not much raised in front, the belly rather thick, the fins small, and the snout sharply pointed ; but the form of the tail, inclined with the point backwards, is remarkable and very singular for this group of Dolphins. The animal measures 3-95 metres in length, and 2 metres in circumference at the middle of the body. The snout is short, * Communicated by Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. &c. t [This animal is evidently allied to Epiodon cavirostris of the Medi-terranean and Petrorhynchus capensis of the Cape seas. Figures of the skulls of these animals have been sent to Dr. Burmeister for comi)arison. — J. E. Gray.]
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