336 WHALES AND DOLPHINS 



seen in Rio de Janeiro harbour. Beddard says : " This species 

 is so common in the bay of Rio de Janeiro that it is impossible 

 to cross the bay without seeing a few sporting in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the ship. The old-world superstitions 

 regarding the dolphin have been in some curious fashion 

 transferred to this new-world form. The natives think that it 

 will bring to shore the bodies of drowned persons. The fact 

 that it is regarded as a sacred animal is rather bad for science, 

 as specimens are hard to obtain." 



Sotalia teuszii from the Kamerun River is noteworthy as 

 being the one cetacean believed to feed exclusively on vegetable 

 matter. In the one specimen found the stomach was filled 

 with leaves, mangrove fruits and grass. The skin of the 

 animal was very thick and the nostrils protruded as tubular 

 prolongations. 



Sotalia gadamu, the Gadamu of the Vizagapatam fishermen, 

 averages about 7 feet in length, and is lead grey on the back, 

 almost black on the flippers, pinkish ashy grey underneath, 

 with a few irregular blotches of darker colour. The broad 

 base of the pectoral flipper is conspicuous, although the 

 attachment of the flipper to the body is of normal extent. The 

 snout is well defined and about 6 inches long. The dorsal 

 fin is moderately high with pronounced posterior concavity 

 Teeth number 23 to 28 in each row. 



Sotalia lentiginosa is another Indian species known to the 

 Vizagapatam fishermen as the Bolla Gadimi and entitled by 

 Owen, who described both this and the last species, the 

 Freckled Dolphin. Its size compares with that of the previous 

 species. " Colour," says Owen, " is pretty uniformly bluish 

 cinereous, or slaty, freckled with irregular small spots or streaks 

 of brown or plumbeous pigment, the streaks longitudinally 

 and flecked with white ; the under surface a shade lighter than 

 the rest of the body." The dorsal fin is much smaller than in 

 the Gadamu, " and the hinder border slopes away gradually 

 to an extensive base of attachment which is continued as a 

 ridge halfway between dorsal and caudal fin". The forward 

 margin of the flipper is very slightly convex, whereas in the 

 Gadamu it is pronouncedly so. Teeth number 36 in each row. 



Sotalia plumbea is a marine species from the Malabar coast 

 of India. The snout is very long ; from its tip to the eye is 



