244 DELPHINID.E. 



lead-colour within 18 or 20 inches of the tail, and another much less 

 distinct ran parallel to this. Length 7| feet. Forehead convex, 

 divided from the snout by a furrow. Fcetus 38 inches ; back dark 

 bluish grey ; belly nearly salmon colour ; no longitudinal stripes as 

 in the mother, but some very indistinct broad transverse stripes were 

 seen towards the back. Teeth had not yet appeared. Cervical ver- 

 tebrae 7, dorsal 14, posterior to these 55 ; the first and second cer- 

 vicals large and scarcely moveable upon each other, the other five 

 were much smaller and rather more moveable." 

 Dolphin, Jackson, Bost. Journ. N. H. v. 153, 1845. 



Inhab. Atlantic Ocean, North America. 



" Whales, diifering in no appreciable respect from the common 

 dolphin of the British coast, came round us in the high seas of every 

 region of the globe during the voyage. It is widely open to question 

 whether the dolphins of so many distinct climates are not also dis- 

 tinct species, but as long as we are to be guided by general resem- 

 blance and are deficient in opportunities of comparing individuals, 

 we must be content to regard them as identical. The contents of 

 the stomach were fish, cuttle-fish, or shrimps. The food contained 

 in the first compartment of the stomach had seldom undergone any 

 change, in the second its digestion had advanced, while in the third 

 and fourth cavities it was reduced to a weU-assimilated pulp." — 

 Bennett, Whaling Voyage, 238. 



Professor Rapp (Cetac. t. 4) has described and figured the skeleton. 

 The scapula with a broad dilated coracoid process, and a broad 

 dilatation on the front edge of the condyle. Fingers 5, short ; the 

 fourth longest ; the third rather short, the fifth shorter ; the first 

 very short, shorter than the second. The spinal processes of the 

 dorsal vertebrae with a distinct subbasal anterior process ; the caudal 

 vertebrae with a similar process on the hinder part of the spinal pro- 

 cess ; but the greater part of the lumbar vertebrae are without them ; 

 the lateral process of the lumbar vertebrae slender. 



The skeleton is also described by Cuvier (Oss. Foss. v. 303), and 

 some bones figured (t. 24) ; and by Professor Owen (Cat. Osteol. Series 

 Mus. Coil. Surg. p. 451. n. 2489). 



Dr. Jackson gives an accoimt of a dissection of a foetal dolphin 

 taken at Lynn, United States ; it was 38 inches long, and the mother 

 7i feet. 



Sometimes seen in the fishmongers' shops in London, having been 

 brought to BiUingsgate for sale ; but their particular habitat is not 

 to be procured, or if one is obtained it is not to be depended on with 

 any confidence, as the animal has generally passed through more th;in 

 one dealer's hands. There are three specimens in the British Museum, 

 procured at Billingsgate, presented by Messrs. J. & C. Grove. 



Mr. Couch says, " They come on the Cornish coast in considerable 

 numbers, more especially when the pilchards and mackerel abound ; 

 and not unfrequently are taken in the drift-nets, in the meshes of 

 which they become entangled by the teeth. In the month of Sep- 

 tember 1845, eight or ten in a day were brought on shore in Mount's 

 Bay for many days in succession." — Cornish Whales, p. 39. 



