A description of the teeth of the Delphinus Gangeticus

Abstract

In the 7th volume of the Asiatic Researches, published in 1781, Dr. Roxburgh describes the Delphinus Gangeticus , but gives a very imperfect account of its teeth; nor is any detailed account of them given in any other work. As the jaws and teeth of this species of Delphinus form its most remarkable character, Sir Everard thinks the subject of sufficient interest to the comparative anatomist and geolo­gist, to be laid before this Society. These teeth, as in the whole tribe, generally have the rudiments in the gums, from which the teeth grow in both directions; upwards through the gum in the form of the point of a flattened cone, which is coated with enamel, and downwards towards the jaw, increasing in breadth, but not in thickness, till it is imbedded in the substance of the jaw itself. The lower portion has no enamel; the number of teeth is, as described by Dr. Roxburgh, 120.