184 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 



A skeleton of one of this species is preserved in the 

 Cabinet of Natural History at Frejus, in France. The 

 length is fourteen feet. The bones of the skull are one 

 foot ten inches long and one foot five inches broad. 



It is found in the Mediterranean Sea, and occasionally 

 in the Arctic Ocean. 



SPECIES VII. 



DELPHINUS TURSIO.* 



The form of the body is conical; the dorsal fin is 

 curved ; the snout is compressed above ; the teeth are 

 straight and blunt. The greatest thickness of this species 

 is between the dorsal and pectoral fins. From this to 

 the extremity of the tail the body becomes more gradually 

 slender. The breathing-hole is placed above the orbits 

 of the eyes ; it is about one inch and a half in diameter. 

 The anterior part of the head is inclined and rounded, 

 and terminates in a flat beak. The lower jaw is the 

 longest. Both jaws are furnished with forty-two 

 cylindrical teeth, which are disposed in a single row. 



The pectoral fins are situated very low. The dorsal 

 fin rises like an inclined plane and is incurvated behind. 

 At the posterior base of the latter fin there arises a pro- 

 jection stretching to the tail. The tail-fin is divided into 

 two lobes in the form of a crescent. The upper part of 

 the body is black, and the belly white. 



It has been noticed by many zoologists that when this 

 species rises to the surface to respire a great part of the 



* Synonymes. — Delphinus Nesarnak, Bonnaterre. In Greenland it 

 is denominated the Nesarnak, 



