ji2 WHALES \M> DOLPHINS 



SPECTACLED PORPOISE {Phoccena dioptrica). Fig. 80. 



This species, which may be the same as P. obtusata, is a 

 southern one, having a range from the River Plate to South 

 Georgia. In the latter place one is reported to have gone 

 ashore at a whaling station ! In general form it resembles 

 the Common Porpoise more closely than the three previously 

 described species. The back fin is triangular, relatively large 

 and more rounded at the tip in the male than in the female. 



The colour is most distinctive, brilliant black on the back 

 and white on the whole of the under surface. On the sides 

 the black and white are sharply marked off from each other ; 

 near the tail the white extends upwards to the dorsal outline. 

 The upper lip, the under surface of the flukes and flippers are 

 white. There is no pigment round the aperture of the eye. 

 In the specimen taken at South Georgia a dark streak similar 

 to that found in the Common Porpoise extended from the 

 flipper insertion to the lower lip. The 19 to 21 teeth on each 

 side of upper and lower jaws are very small and spade-shaped. 



Genus Neomeris. 



THE FINLESS BLACK PORPOISE {Neomeris phoc&noides). 

 Fig. 81. 



The Finless Black Porpoise, Indian Porpoise or Nameno-Juo 

 is easily recognized by the characters mentioned in the first 

 common name. Except for the absence of the dorsal fin this 

 form is in general build exceedingly like the Common Porpoise 

 of British waters. The forehead is rounded, almost protuberant 

 in profile, and from the top of the head to the tail flukes the 

 outline of the back forms a smooth and uninterrupted curve. 

 Along the middle of the back is an elongated depressed area in 

 which is a very low ridge bearing minute tubercles or horny 

 scales. The tubercles in this species, as in Phoccena, are 

 believed to be the last remnants of a scaly armour covering 

 the whole of the body in the ancestors of these animals. 

 Associated with this it is interesting to note that in the embryos 

 of Neomeris the distribution of the tubercles is much more 

 general than it is later in life. 



The body colour is black except for a dark grey patch 



