GENUS STENO. 



SOTALIA SINENSIS Flower. 



23 



Dclphinus chinensls, Osbcck, Voyage to Cbiua iu 1751. p. 12 (without description) ; 



Desu.arest, Encycl. mdtliod. (" Mamraalogie"), 1822, p. 514. (From Osbeck 



without description.) 

 DeJj>hinus ,i„ams, F. Cuvicr, Hist. nat. des Cctac6s, 1836, p. 213. (I rom 0«beck 



without description.) 

 Dclphinus siuensis, Flower, Trans. Zool. Soc. London, vii, 1870, p. 151. 

 Sotalia sinensis, Flower, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1883, p. 513. 



This species, wbich from the time it was originally observed by Os- 

 beck in 1751, stood among the forms incerUv sedis, was formally described 

 by Professor Flower, in 1870, on the basis of two skeletons collected by 

 Mr. Swiuhoe in the harbor of Amoy. Althongh, throngh the kindness 

 of Professor Flower, I was enabled to examine the types of the species, 

 I can add nothing to his concise and sufiacieut account, and will simply 

 quote the paragraphs in which the distinctive characters are set forth : 



The principal differences between this skeleton and that of all other Dolphins lie 

 in the vertebral column. The total number of vertebra is less [viz : C. 7 D. 12, L. 

 10- Ca 22=51], the individual vertebnc are proportionally longer, and their trans- 

 verse processes are shorter and broader than in any other species. Next to it in these 

 characters stands D. gniancnsis (genus SotaUa, Gray), which has the following verte- 

 bral formula: C.7, D.12, L 14, C. 22=55; then D. tursio, which has C. 7, D. 13, L. 17, 

 Q 25^62.* ' The live animal is of a milky white, with pinkish fins and black eyes.'t 

 The numbers of the teeth of the adult specimen of D. sinensis, as indicated by the 

 alveoli, are g?, total 128. t 



The localities iu which the species is known or believed to occur 

 are the harbor of Amoy, Canton River, and Foochow River. 

 A good iigure of the exterior and measurements are still desiderata. 

 Measurements of the skull are given iu the synopsis. 



2. STENO Gray. 



■ <rSlcno, Gray, Zoology Erebus and Terror, 1840, p. 43; Cat. Cetacea Brit. Mus., 

 1850, p. 127; P. Z. S. Loudon, 18G4, p. 236; Cat. Seals and Whales Brit. 

 Mus.', 1866, p. 232; Supplement, 1871, p. 65; Van Beneden & Gervais, Ost(5- 

 ographie des Cetac6s, 1880, p. 592. 

 yGli/phidelpMs, Gervais, Zool. ct Paleont. Fran?., 185!), p. 301. 

 =Steno, Flower, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1883, p. 513. 



Only three characters of importance have been brought forward as 

 distinguishing this genus from its nearest ally, Tiirsiops. These relate 

 to the (1) compression of the beak, (2) the elongation of the symphysis 

 of the mandible, and (3) the rugosity of the teeth. The first two of 

 these characters impress upon the mandible a peculiar form, which is 

 widely difterent from that existing in Tursiops. The rami are concave 



* Trans. Zool. Soc, London, vir, 1870, p. 159. The number of vertebra? in the 

 genera Monodon and Dclphinapteru^, which is only 50, is not taken into consideration 

 bv Professor Flower iu this connection. t Loc. cit., p. 152. t Loc. cit., 155. 



