DOLPHINS 245 



fin, in which it resembles its undoubted ally the 

 Narwhal and the more distant N coiner is. It is a 

 singular fact that these whales, unlike many Cetacea, 

 have a distinct voice ; and their vocal capabilities 

 have earned for them the name of " Sea Canary." 

 The Beluga lives in companies. They feed upon 

 fish, Cephalopods and Crustacea ; these they pursue 

 at great depths in the ocean, It is said that the 

 sand which is sometimes found in the stomach is 

 used as ballast to enable the creature to remain 

 below water with greater facility ; but, as already 

 mentioned in the case of the Balcenoptera rostrata, 

 it seems much more likely that the sand is engulphecl 

 accidentally along with their prey. 



The various aliases of the one polar White whale 

 are partly due to the occasional fusion of the cervical 

 vertebrae, the presence of an additional rib, and a few 

 other points, which are really within the limits of 

 individual variation. 



The Beluga has a very distinct neck a rarity 

 among whales, but a character of Platanista and 

 Inia, to which genera indeed the freedom from each 

 other of the cervical vertebrae give it an additional re- 

 semblance. A curious error, but made in good faith, 

 was perpetrated in i 748 with regard to the systematic 

 position of this "white fish." Anderson described a 

 specimen which had lost the teeth of the upper jaw, 

 and was in consequence only dentate below, as a 

 white Cachalot. Lacepede added, apparently solely 

 for the sake of a better filled page : " On ne peut 

 guere clouter que ce cetacee ne fournisse de 1'adipocire ; 



