Observations on a rare British Dolphin. 611 



ever been seen ashore by those who are well acquainted with 

 the oceanic natives of the Devon coast. The only authentic 

 notice of a species approaching in its characters the one now 

 before me, is the individual captured in Duncannon Pool, 

 near Stoke Gabriel, about five miles up the River Dart, in 

 July, 1814; an account of which was published by Col. Mon- 

 tague in the Wernerian Memoirs,* and described by that ex- 

 cellent and industrious naturalist under the name of Delphinus 

 truncatus. It was 12 feet in length, and 8 feet in circumfer- 

 ence, and measured from the snout to the blowhole 144 inches. 

 The summits of the teeth were even with the gums, and it was 

 of a black colour above, and whitish below; the skull, includ- 

 ing the upper jaw, measured 20^ inches, and the breadth 

 across the posterior molars was 5 inches ; on each side there 

 were sockets for 20 teeth ; the lower jaw was longer than the 

 upper, and contained 23 teeth on each side. The sockets 

 were variable in size, and without order, showing that some 

 teeth were double the size of others, and the approximation 

 of the sockets evinces the contiguity of the teeth, so that the 

 teeth of both jaws must have opposed their surfaces to each 

 other.f 



This imperfect sketch of Col. Montague's specimen is, I 

 trust, sufficient to enable me to show that the cetacean cap- 

 tured in the Dart was not the true Delphinus Tursio of Fa- 

 bricius, if we may be allowed to judge from a comparison of 

 the measurement of Montague's specimen, with the fine per- 

 fect one now before me. Thus, Montague gives 12 feet in 

 length and 8 feet in circumference as the proportional mea- 

 surement of Delph. truncatus ; that now before me was 11 

 feet long by 5-£ in circumference : from the snout to the blow- 

 hole of the cetacean of the Dart was 14^ inches; the subject 

 of this paper measures 16^ inches from the extremity of the 

 rostrum to the centre of the breathing -hole. The teeth in 

 Montague's were approximated ; the teeth in our specimen 

 are set in distinct alveoli at definite intervals apart from each 

 other : the teeth in Delph. truncatus were unequal, some be- 

 ing double the size of others; those in our specimen are equal 

 in volume throughout, except the two anterior of both jaws, 

 which appear to have recently pierced the gum : the teeth of 

 Delph. Tursio lock into each other, although they have fre- 

 quently opposed their surfaces, as indicated by the worn ap- 

 pearance which their blunt summits present. From the dis- 

 similarity in the specific characters shown by this parallel, 



* Vol. iii. page 75. tab. 3. 

 f Fleming's ' British Animals,' page 35. 

 Vol. IT.— No. 23. n. s. 3 o 



