CLASS MAMMALIA. 81
Family DELPHINIDAE.
Genus ORCA, Gray,
Orca gladiator, Lacepede. Grampus.
John Hunter, the anatomist, records the capture of three
specimens of this savage and destructive animal in the River
Thames, towards the end of the last century (see Bell's Brit.
Quad., p. 446). There is, in the British Museum, the skull of
a specimen taken on the Essex coast, as recorded in the
Zoo/ogist for 1873, p. 3429, and Dale (Hist. of Harwich,
p. 412) mentions another specimen. Some years since, I saw
two whales which had been killed in one of the creeks of the
Blackwater. These, I have no doubt, were of this species,
but no record was kept of them, and I do not recollect what
became of their bones. Probably they went, as usual, for
manure.
Genus Grampus, Gray.
Grampus griseus, G. Cuvier. Risso's Grampus.
One of this species was found stranded in the Crouch
about the 5th September, 1885, just above the spot where the
specimen of Rudolphi's Rorqual, previously mentioned, was
captured. It was, unfortunately, boiled down before I heard
of it. I obtained, however, the remains of the skull and lower
jaw. These are now deposited in the British Museum.
Professor Flower, after having examined them, confirmed my
identification (Zool., 1888, p. 260 ; Essex Nat., vol. ii., p. 72).
This last-mentioned was only the fifth specimen then recorded
on the British coasts, and the Crouch River appears to be
the farthest point east and north at which this species of
Grampus has ever been found.
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