ANOMALOUS DOLPHINS 301 



creature of ill-omen, and on that account its name 

 is tabooed." 



There is also, according to the late Mr. H. W. 

 Bates, a legend that this dolphin of the Amazons 

 assumes the shape of a beautiful woman and peram- 

 bulates the river banks. Meeting with an impression- 

 able young man in that torrid region, and enticing 

 him by the aspect of her long hair hanging loose at 

 her heels, she inveigles him near the bank and dis- 



O 



appears 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 Agassiz 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 to 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 Stenodelpkis, but Pontoporia is so much more 

 familiar) in the family Platanistidae on 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 



