326 WHALES AND DOLPHINS 



The back was black and the belly white. The flippers and 

 flukes were dark on both surfaces. A broad border of black 

 surrounded the mouth and the eye also had a dark circle 

 surrounding it. A narrow dark streak extended from below 

 the eye to the base of the flipper. A light area separated the 

 black of the upper jaw from that on the top of the head and 

 extended backwards and downwards to fade into the whiteness 

 of the belly. Two conspicuous dark promontories, one above 

 the other and having their origin on the side below the back 

 .fin, extended tailwards into a light coloured area, which 

 itself was almost enclosed along its lower border by the approxi- 

 mation of the lower promontory to a tapering projection for- 

 ward of the dark pigmentation of the tailstock. Teeth number 

 30-32 in each row. 



The length of this dolphin when adult is about 7 leet. 



It is one of the commonest dolphins in New Zealand waters, 



and is also known from the Falkland Islands. Lillie, in the 



"Terra Nova" Report on Cetacea says: "This dolphin does 

 not seem to occur further south than about Lat. 58 S. but 

 when we were approaching, or leaving, the coast of New Zealand 

 we invariably met large schools of 'Dusky Dolphin' which 



used to follow us and play round the bows of the ship, as though 

 they were seeing us off or welcoming us back to temperate 

 lands." 



In the stomach of a specimen taken in the Falkland Islands 



were found cuttlefishes. 



Three more species, the external form of which is not 



adequately known, may, however, be mentioned here : L. 



superciliosus from the Cape of Good Hope, L. electra from the 



Indian Ocean and tropical Pacific Ocean, and L. thicolea from 



the west coast of North America. 



Genus Tur slops. 



THE BOTTLE-NOSED DOLPHIN {Tursiops truncatus). 

 Fig. 90. 



The only well-known member of the genus Tursiops, the 

 Bottle-nosed Dolphin T. truncatus may be taken as represen- 

 tative of the group to which it belongs. The similarity of its 

 common name to that of the Bottle-nosed Whale (Hyperoodon) 



