DOLPHINS 271 



there may be two or three rudimentary ribs behind 

 the eleven well-developed ones. The sternum of 

 the species is formed of three pieces, which coalesce 

 later. Five ribs articulate with the sternum. This 

 species is so common in the bay of Rio de Janeiro 

 that it is impossible to cross the bay without seeing 

 a few sporting in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 the ship. The old-world superstitions regarding the 

 dolphin have been in some curious fashion transferred 

 to this new-world form. The natives think that it 

 will bring to shore the bodies of drowned persons. 

 The fact that it is regarded as a sacred animal is 

 rather bad for science, as specimens are hard to 

 obtain. 



Solatia pallida, Gervais* (probably the same as 

 Steno tuciixi, Gray, and Sotalia fluviatilis, van 

 Beneden and Gervais), has a black colour above, 

 and is white or pinkish below. The teeth are thirty 

 in each jaw. As already mentioned, materials do 

 not exist for saying whether there is but one or 

 whether there are two or three species comprised 

 in the forms here provisionally grouped under one 

 name. It may be that S. pallida is simply a pale- 

 coloured variety, or there may be, as in Inia (q.v.), 

 a sexual difference of coloration. 



Sotalia teuszei, Ktikenthal,f is certainly distinct ; it 



* In CASTELNAU, E.\ped. Americ. Sud., 1855. p. 94. 

 t Zool.Jahrb. Syst. Abth., vi., 1892, p. 442, 



