3^4 WHALES AND DOLPHINS 



between the flippers and another of the same shade in the region 

 of the vent. The external aperture of the ear is also surrounded 

 by a small patch of dark grey. 



The teeth are very Phoccena-like, but are not so numerous 

 as in that species ; from 15 to 19 are found on each side of 

 upper and lower jaws. 



Neomeris attains an adult length of about 4 feet 6 inches ; 

 it is thus less in size than the Common Porpoise. 



Its range extends from the Cape of Good Hope to Japan. 

 It is abundant off the coast of Bombay, and even more so 

 than the Common Porpoise tends to frequent estuaries and 

 rivers. In China it ascends the Yangtze Kiang beyond the 

 Tung Ting Lake to nearly a thousand miles from the sea. 



The food of this species consists of fishes, prawns and cuttle- 

 fishes. 



It is not markedly gregarious and solitary specimens are 

 most frequently seen. The young are born about October. 

 This Porpoise is said to be a sluggish little creature, not given 

 to the playful antics of the Common Porpoise. 



Genus Lissodelphis. 



THE RIGHT WHALE DOLPHINS [Lissodelphis peronii 

 and L. borealis). Fig. 82. 



The Right Whale Dolphins receive their common name on 

 account of the absence of a back fin, in which they resemble 

 the Right W'hales of the genus Balcena. Slender in form they 

 have a distinct short beak behind which, in profile, the forehead 

 rises in a low curve. The flippers are tapering, with convex 

 lower margin, and convex and then concave upper margin. 

 From the forehead to the flukes the outline of the back presents 

 a low smooth uninterrupted curve. 



The two species, L. peronii and L. borealis, are alike in 

 external form but differ in coloration. L. peronii of southern 

 seas, chiefly in the neighbourhood of New Zealand and Tasmania, 

 has the upper part of the head, back and flukes black, and the 

 rest of the body, including the flippers, white. Black and 

 white are distinctly marked off from each other with no inter- 

 vening shaded areas. This species is so strikingly marked as 

 to be very easily distinguishable from any other dolphin. 



