612 Observations on a rare British Dolphin. 



it is a question with me how far we are justified in regarding, 

 as some have done,* the cetacean captured in the Dart as 

 identical with the Delph. Tursio of Fabricius. 



The whale caught in the Severn near Berkeley, and for- 

 warded by the immortal Jenner to the equally immortal John 

 Hunter, and described and figured by the latter in the * Phi- 

 losophical Transactions^ under the name of "the small bot- 

 tle-nose whale," is, I think, on comparing the figure with our 

 specimen, not Delph. Delphis, as supposed by Hunter J and 

 Fleming, § but the Delph. Tursio of Fabricius. In fact Hunt- 

 er's figure || of his small bottle-nose whale is a tolerable re- 

 presentation of our specimen ; the dorsal fin in his drawing 

 is, however, placed nearer to the muzzle than the tail, where- 

 as in our specimen that organ is situated six inches nearer to 

 the tail than the rostrum : another error consists in the situ- 

 ation of the pectoral fins, which, in the specimen, are closely 

 approximated to the angle of the lower jaw, and placed very 

 low down ; but they are figured at a considerable distance 

 ■ from those parts; and the body, from the dorsal fin to the tail, 

 is not so conical as in the preparation. The eye is likewise 

 placed rather too high, and the convexity of the frontal emi- 

 nence is not sufficiently defined. 



Not having at the present moment an opportunity of refer- 

 ring to Professor Bell's beautiful volume on ' British Quad- 

 rupeds, I am unable to state whether that excellent naturalist 

 has added any new facts to our knowledge of Delph. Tursio 

 since the appearance of Professor Fleming's Synopsis. I have 

 drawn up with great care the accompanying table, and only 

 regret that it has not been in my power to add more that is 

 really new concerning the internal organisation of this rare 

 British cetacean. 



Description. — The body was of a bright bluish black above 

 and along the flanks, and of a pure white beneath. The di- 

 ameter of the body gradually increases from the neck to the 

 anterior origin of the dorsal fin, where it attains its maximum. 

 At the posterior root of that organ the circumference is less, 

 and from this point to the origin of the caudal fin it becomes 

 more and more slender. A section of the body made at the 

 dorsal fin would represent an elongated cone, with its apex 

 turned backwards. 



* Fleming's * Br. Animals.' Turton & Kingston's ' Nat. Hist, of Devon.' 



f*Phil. Trans.' 1787, p. 450, tab. 18. 



t'Phil. Trans.' lxxvii. tab. 18. 



§ « Phil. Trans.' lxxvii. 1787. |J.' British Animals,' p. 35. 



