 section 24 of the book of whales this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Mike Botez the book of whales by Frank Evers Bedard chapter 11 anomalous dolphins family Platonistidae we can define this family by the following characteristics cervical vertebrae all free and individually of considerable length jaws long and narrow with a considerable extent of synthesis and numerous teeth lacrimal bones not distinct from juggle pectoral limbs large phalanges of digits few in number this undoubtedly ancient family of dolphin like cetacea would be more easily definable if we could eject pontoporia which is very distinctly nearer to the true dolphins then are either of the following remaining genre platonista and inia this indeed is done by gray who does actually relegate pontoporia to the dolphins making a separate family for the two other genre a family that is to say for each of them sir william flower was content with urging the adoption of subfamily rank for each of the forms platonista and inia avoiding the placing of pontoporia which was not thoroughly known at the time when he wrote up on these forms as it is now the genus platonista may be thus distinguished from its allies there is no dorsal fin the pectorals are large and truncated at the extremity teeth not so numerous as in inia some 29 in each half of each jaw scapula with the acromion coinciding with the anterior margin of the bone and a rudimentary coracoid process only in the skull there are enormous maxillary crests the most remarkable feature of the cervical region of the spinal colon is the independence and the comparatively great thickness of the individual vertebrae there is a fairly strong marked odontoid process on the axis a very rare feature in whales the thoracic vertebrae are locked together in a way which is also peculiar to platonista among whales but the mode of attachment of the ribs is on the whole like that of inia the first seven of these are attached to the transverse process of their own vertebrae and to the center of the vertebrae in front there are eight lambar vertebrae the sternal ribs as in inia are cartilaginous the sternum is not so modified as that of inia it consists of three pieces placed end to end of which the middle one at any rate shows traces of its double origin by a sacher running down it longitudinally to the sternum four ribs are attached the main peculiarity of the scapula quite unique among whales has been pointed out in the definition of the genus as in inia the humerus is unusually long the most remarkable feature in the skull not even accepting the extraordinary maxillary crests is the condition of the palatines these do not enter into the formation of the bony palate but are concealed by the pterigoids platonista ga gentica the species named by lebec the long snouted dolphin of the Ganges is limited to that river and to its branches and to the indus and its branches it appears never to leave the streams for the sea its food is chiefly fish and prawns and it is believed largely to grab about in the river mud to obtain its food the diminutive eyes render pursuit of an active prey at least difficult but the whale makes up for these defective organs of vision as is elsewhere the case in the animal world by a sensitive beak drain has been found in the stomach of this dolphin but Dr. Anderson believes that its presence is accidental and not deliberately caused by the dolphin the most generally used vernacular term for this cetacean is susu this and some of the other expressions used by natives in different parts of its range are onomatopoetic words intended to imitate the sound made during spouting as everything that breathes seems to form the food of some tribe or individuals it is unnecessary to state that the susu is devoured by many natives the animal may reach a length of 9.5 feet but it is not usually so large as to the external characters the most striking point which would be at first noticed is the existence of a distinct neck its long snout is curiously suggestive of that of the gavel of the same region of the world the next genus inia has only a rudimentary dorsal fin but large ovate pectorals the teeth have often a distinct additional tubercle the maxillary crests are not largely developed the palatines are separated in the middle line by the vomer scapula normal this genus like platanista includes but a single species the genus itself is in some respects the most central type of the platanist idea it is much more un-dolphin like than pontoporia but not so highly abnormal in the bulk of its characters as is platanista the skeleton of this whale has been described by sir w flower from a specimen in the british museum the skull is very slightly asymmetrical it is crested behind the nears the vertex being formed by the frontals there is no distinct lacrimal bone the maxillae are narrow and excavated by the pre maxillae in a way paralleled in pentoporia but not found among the dolphins the palatines are separated from each other by the vomer and the pterigoids are nearly in contact the mandible presents a remarkable miniature resemblance to that of a cashelot its most remarkable feature is the great length of the synthesis the vertebrae are very few only 41 in all which are thus distributed c7 d13 l3 ca18 equals 41 the neck as in platanista is particularly long and for the matter of that distinguishable externally this is due to the relatively great length and complete separation from each other of all of the cervicals the non-common state of affairs in toothed cetacea but found in platanista beluga and monodon there is a faint indication of the odontoid process to the axis more developed in platanista the dorsal vertebrae have high and erect spines there are both anterior and posterior zygopophysis on the first nine anterior zygopophysis only on the 10th and 11th the transverse process begins to be divided into transverse process proper and metapophysis on the fifth dorsal the former gradually move up towards the anterior zygopophysis which they entirely supersede on the 12th vertebra the latter processes move down and become on the ninth fused with a process of the centrum to which the capitular head of the rib is attached the arrangement of these tubercles and processes of the vertebrae is related to a singular disposition of the ribs which is unique among cetaceans and is more like that of the cashelot and zephy's whales the anterior vertebrae have a process springing from the neural arch for the tubercular attachment of the rib between each two vertebrae half on each is a facet for the capitular attachment of the rib in the fifth vertebra the facet is confined to the anterior edge of the body of that vertebra and therefore on this vertebra and those following each rib is solely attached to its own vertebrae as far as the seventh each rib has a double attachment but on the eighth or ninth the two facets of insertion have as already mentioned coalesced from this point therefore the ribs are single headed in having only three lumbar vertebrae inia is remarkable among whales it is a point of likeness to the syrinia this vertebrae are compressed and reached below there seem to be 11 chevron bones the ribs are 13 pairs the sternal ribs being cartilaginous as in the facetary day it is possible that only two pairs of these reach the sternum which will be if confirmed another small point of likeness to the syrinia the sternum itself is not unlike that of a manatee it is a single bone oval in outline with a deep anterior notch in the whale bone whales the sternum also consists of a single piece the scapula unlike that of platanista is not aberrant but conforms to the ordinary dolphin pattern both acromion and coracoid are long the humerus is unusually long a clearly unspecialized character and longer than the radius or ulna the reverse being the case in other cetacea the hand has five carpals beside the pisiform the formula of the phalanges is this one one two five three four four two five two the teeth of inia are from 104 to 132 the formula being 26 to 32 by 26 to 32 the teeth as in stano are markedly rugos on the crowns they also show a very important character in the approach to the complex teeth of terrestrial carnivores in the presence of a supplementary lobe to the hindered teeth the only species is inia geofrancis with the synonyms dolphinus amazonicus spix and martius inia boliviensis dorbenii de joffrey de maré this dolphin frequents the amazons and reaches an extreme length of eight feet it has a striking coloration as well as a considerable amount of variability which it may be incidentally remarked throws doubt upon other identification of cetaceans by color alone according to the most recent observer of this species mr e e austin it is either holy pink or flesh colored or else entirely black or black above and pink beneath individuals of the different colors are to be seen in company and it may be that the difference of color is sexual the late mr bates however denied that the two sets of individuals were intermingled so the matter must be regarded for the present as unsettled as to the color it is remarkable that there are other examples of pale colored river dolphins e.g. sotelia sinensis a circumstance which must make us pause before accepting view that the white hue of the arctic beluga is protective in its nature the rostrum of this dolphin is beset with scattered stiff hairs and the dorsal fin is rudimentary being reduced to a mere ridge the native name of the animal is buto and there are legends to the effect that it will attack a man in the water while the species of sotelia found in the same river will endeavor to protect him the two animals thus playing respectively the roles of the jaguar and the puma according to mr hudson in any case the natives fear the dolphin and cannot be induced to harpoon it nor will they use the oil for fear that it should bring them bad luck it is curious that another river dolphin in quite another part of the world the river pig of kanton question mark sotelia sinensis is according to the reverend hage friend looked upon as a creature of ill omen and on that account his name is tabud there is also according to the late mr hw baits a legend that this dolphin of the amazons assumes the shape of a beautiful woman and perambulates the river banks meeting with an impressionable young man in that torrid region and enticing him by the aspect of her long hair hanging loose at her heels she invagals him near the bank and disappears with him beneath the waves it is stated that such legends and they abound in the region are not native at all but introduced by the portuguese professor aga says also having after some difficulty secured a specimen of this dolphin found that when it finally arrived into his possession it was sadly mutilated by reason of the superstitious reverence that attached to its eyes and other parts of its anatomy genus pontoporia dorsal fin falcate teeth very numerous over 200 articulation of ribs as in dolphins sternum in two pieces scapula as in inia palatines separated in the middle line by the vomer i retain this genus of which the proper name is really stenodelfis but pontoporia is so much more familiar in the family platanistide one account of its long and beak like jaws the numerous small teeth and the general similarity of its nearly symmetrical skull to that of inia it was thus placed provisionally by sir william flower after an examination of the skull only since sir w flower wrote the late professor burmeister has described the other bones and certain of the viscera the facts thus discovered are not so strongly in favor of the platanistide affinities of pontoporia but though it may be regarded as leaning towards the dolphins there can be no great harm in leaving it for the present in the family platanistide the seven cervical vertebrae are all free as in other platanistides there are ten dorsal vertebrae only burmeister gives also seven lumbars and 18 quaddles this bringing up the total number of vertebrae to 42 i find the same total number in a specimen in the british museum but allow only five lumbars the rest being quaddles my admiration must be accepted if we are to allow the presence of the first chevron bone to mark the commencement of the quadal series this whale therefore is a dolphin like in the greater number of the lumbar vertebrae that is of course as compared with inia the sternum consists of two pieces which are ossified burmeister mentions a cartilaginous piece between the hindre half of the sternum was divided longitudinally into two halves the british museum specimen appeared to be adult there are 10 pairs of ribs of which i found the first three pairs to be double headed the ribs in this genus are not like those of inia but like those of dolphins that is to say the single headed ribs suddenly begin they lose their capitular attachment and have only the tubercular there is no fusion between the two heads as in inia but other examples of cetacea cf cogia and fisseter teach us that this is not a difference of first rate importance barmeister states that there are four ribs i.e. four pairs with a double attachment to the vertebral column the scapula of this dolphin is normal in the region of the acromion as in cetacea generally but not as in platonista four pairs of ribs appear to join the sternum of which the last pair however are attached by a ligament only the sternum ribs in front of this seem to be ossified barmeister distinctly states that they are the skull of pontoporia is very symmetrical as compared with other dolphins its surface is very flat not reached behind the nears like that of inia the palatines moreover do not cover the vomor a point of likeness to inia the synthesis of the mandible is long and the teeth are estimated by sir w flower to be as many as two hundred and twenty one in all pontoporia blaine villy gervais as there is so far as you know but a single species of this dolphin like platonist it is unnecessary and indeed impossible to give it a satisfactory definition the color was stated by m de fremville who brought home the original skull upon which the genus and the species were founded to be white with a black dorsal band dorbini described another dolphin which he thought but without any evidence to be the same species as this evidence is wanting it will be unnecessary to repeat his description mr. lidaka on the other hand has described it as a paleish brown harmonizing with the brown colored water of the estuary of the amazons and the rio de la plata extinct platonist more generic types have been described as belonging to this group of cetacea than to any other and it is furthermore remarkable as being the only existing group that goes back to the far past of the eocene period indeed apart from the zooglodons these whales are the only ones that have so ancient history but as is often the case their remains are for the most part fragmentary and not much of great importance has been or apparently can be reduced from their study the restricted range of the existing platonist today is in the interesting harmony with the great antiquity of the race it is so often the case that a rapidly dwindling group of animals consists of existing forms which occupy very limited areas it is as if the long continuance of the types in question had rendered them partially effete and unable to cope with the changed conditions and new forms allied to themselves in order to survive they had to creep into corners where the tide of cetacean life does not enter it is often held that the original terrestrial ancestors of the whales gradually adopted the marine life by first taking to rivers and then gradually passing through estuaries to the sea it is alleged that these very platonistids being largely freshwater in the range themselves furnished such a proof of the way in which the ancestors of the whales changed to an aquatic from a land life for they present as has been pointed out certain archaic points of structure and are freshwater in habitat there is however no a priori reason why the original whale should not have boldly plunged into salt water at once without gradually accustomed himself to the change for we have the sea otter as an instance of a land animal frequenting the waters of the sea and furthermore the remains of extinct platonistids are from definitely marine strata the question indeed is one upon which guesses alone are possible seeing that the platonistids represented at any rate by the genus iniopsis go back as far in time as the zoolodons we might expect to find some approximation in structure between these two tribes nearer than that which obtains between the zoolodons and others there are however so few apparent points at which the two groups touch that it seems necessary to look upon the two as independently evolved from some more ancient form and to regard the zoolodons type as having culminated in the later squalodons and then to have become extinct there are however two genre assigned by cope to the platonistids which approach zoolodon in one point and that is in the length of the cervical vertebrae these are zarakis and presco delfinus this character however as it seems to us is rather one that betokens antiquity than one which points in any particular direction the general tendency of whales of every group to lose their teeth is exhibited in these old platonistidae the genus rabdosteus has teeth at the base of the maxillary only in agabellus the teeth seem to have entirely vanished leaving only an alveolar groove which may perhaps have contained rudimentary teeth like those now found in the upper jaw of phyceter and zephyids some other facts dealing with fossil members of this group will be found at page 209 end of section 24 recording by mike botez section 25 of the book of whales this is a libre vox recording a libre vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libre vox.org recording by neccalia the book of whales by frank evers beddard chapter 12 zoolodonts and their allies family squaladontidae this family consisting entirely of extinct forms may be thus defined teeth in both jaws specialized into incisors canines premolars and molars skull dolphin like these whales whose remains are known from the myocene and pliocene of europe america and australia form a connecting link between the zoolodonts with which group they have been united and the modern odontocetes like the zoolodonts the teeth are specialized and moreover the molars have a coarsely serrate cutting edge like the zoolodont tooth but the serrations are confined to one side the teeth too are more numerous though some of them are too rooted as in zoolodont the archaic characters of the squaladontidae are also shown by the fact that a number of the teeth of the upper jaw are born by the premaxilla the skull however apart from this feature is not archaic and the rudimentary nasals of modern citations have been acquired in pro squaladon however this process has not been fully completed and there are small nasals which just project over the nasal vacuities the synthesis of the mandible of squaladon is very long thus recalling the platinistids and fiesta these whales which did not exceed some 30 feet in length have been divided into numerous genera but as little is known of the skeleton this proceeding is at present rather premature cope however allows another genus in addition to those mentioned and that is tri rhizodon characterized by the fact that some of the molars are three-rooted archioceti this the last of the three divisions of whales embraces only a single family and so far as can be said with certainty only a single genus zuglodon it is usually regarded as an assemblage equivalent to either of the other groups and this view will be followed here but the differences in structure might fairly be considered as entitling it to a more isolated position among the cetacea nevertheless there is no question of the cetaceous nature of the zuglodon it is quite possible however that the zuglodons are the ancestral group from which the odontoceti and the mystic cockety have been derived but this view a very general one cannot be elaborated in detail we shall simply find an example of what is so disappointingly general when an attempt is made to trace pedigrees and animals the archaeoceti are toothed whales but whereas in the odontoceti the teeth are all alike with merely difference in size the teeth of the presence group are like those of more typical mammals in being distinctly separable into three series there are three incisors on each side of the jaw and those of the upper jaw are born by the pre maxillae the bone which bears the incisors and mammals generally behind the junction of the pre maxillae with the maxillae is a definite canine and behind this again five teeth which are no doubt both molars and premolars though there is no positive evidence of a double dentition in the zuglodons it will be noted too that the total number of teeth 36 is that of many mammals the skull is elongated like that of whales in general and as in other whales the snout is long the frontal bones come down over the orbit as in all whales but the nasals are long and ordinarily mammalian the result of this latter arrangement is that the blowhole was in the middle of the snout instead of at its base as in all whales except fiesta where it will be remembered there is a canal embedded in the soft tissues of the head leading to the extremity of the snout it is the whale bone whales among living cetacea which have best preserved the form of the nasal bones of zuglodon other bones of the skull besides the nasals are not upon the cetacean plan the premaxillae take a large share as has been already implied in the formation of the gape the parietals which in existing whales have no lot or part in forming the top of the skull meet in these ancient whale like creatures to form a sagittal crest upon the vertex the cervical vertebrae as in the ancient platinus today and in a few only of other existing cetacea are separate they are more over not compressed and tarot posteriorly as are those of recent whales but are not different in length from the succeeding vertebrae the scapula is not typically cetaceous since it has but a small coracoid process and a large acromion the ribs are double headed like the anterior series of the toothed whales the sternum too is constructed upon the plan that characterizes the odontoceti being composed of several pieces if the archaeoceti are the most primitive of whales it must be among them that the clue to the relationship of the whales will be found this is a topic however about which more has been written than ascertained the only view that demands a notice here for we cannot of course accept any ichthyosaurian descent for these animals is the opinion held by one or two persons that the zoocladonts are most nearly related to seals the facts upon which these comparisons have been based are principally the characters of the teeth the long neck like that of a seal in proportions the scapula without the typical whale-like form all these points are just so far seal-like as they are generalized characters all mammals accept the cetacea and to a less extent the serenia have moderately long cervical vertebra included in the series are of course the seals it is likely that whales have been derived from animals with this more typical mammalian arrangement there is certainly one family only and probably but a single genus of this group of whales the remains of this have been found in many parts of the world indicating that its distribution was like that of most cetacea of the present day wide this genus was one of the great whales and reached a length of certainly 70 feet the best known species is zoocladont sitoidus but in spite of the abundance of its remains no complete skeleton has ever been got together end of section 25 and end of the book of whales by frank evers beddard