DELPHINUS. 257 
“The food of the Irrawady 
dolphin is apparently exclu- — 
sively fish. The fishermen be- 
lieve that the dolphin purposely 
draws fish to their nets, and 
each fishing village has its par- 
ticular guardian dolphin, which 
recelves a name common to 
all the fellows of his school, 
and it is this supposition that 
makes it so difficult to obtain 
specimens of this cetacean. 
Colonel Sladen has told me 
that suits are not unfrequently 
brought into the native courts 
to recover a share in the cap- 
ture of fish in which a _ plain- 
tiff’s dolphin has been held to 
have filled the nets of a rival 
fisherman” (Anderson). ‘This 
reminds me that in the sur- i ae Ae eae Ce 
5 5 . angetic Olphin—L°¢ala7iisia angelica, 
veying voyage of the /erald, 2. Round-headed River Dolphin — Orcella 
as related by Mr. H. Lee, the Fepsuwaeees 
natives of Moreton Bay en- 3. Gadamu Dolphin—Delphinus Gadamu. 
treated the seamen not to shoot 4. Freckled Dolphin—Delphinus lentigino- 
their tame porpoises, which ae : 
helped them A es fishing 5. Black Dolphin—Delphinus pomeegra. 
GENUS DELPHINUS—THE MARINE DOLPHINS, 
These are characterised by a convex forehead, with a protruding 
muzzle which forms a sort of beak; they have teeth in both jaws, 
numerous and conical, broad and high cranium, nasal passages vertical, 
no cecum. They are gregarious in habit, carnivorous and extremely 
swift, but they must not be confounded with the dolphin of sailors, 
which is a true fish (Coryphena hipparis) of great velocity and brilliant 
colours, which change like rainbow tints when the fish is dying. Ihave 
several times in vain tried to catch the fleeting shades with both oil 
and water-colours, but without success ; for within a few minutes they 
change from the most vivid of greens and blues to a pale silvery grey. 
The true dolphin, of which we are treating, is the dolphin of the 
ancients, represented in all the old pictures and sculptures. They have 
a medium dorsal fin, and the pectoral flippers are about two-thirds 
longer than the breadth. 
S 
