382 THE AMAZONIAN DOLPHIN chap. 



those of terrestrial mammals ; i.e. the hmnerus is distinctly the 

 longer, the converse usually obtaining among Whales. But 

 Platanista again agrees witli Inia. The teeth are remarkable 

 for the fact that the hindermost ones of the series have an 

 additional lobe ; they are not purely conical as are those of 

 Whales generally. 



Tliere is but one species, Inia geoffrensis, which inliabits the 

 Amazons, and grows to a length of 8 feet. Its colour 

 variations are rather extraordinary, unless they can be set down 

 to sex, which has been denied. Some individuals are wholly 

 pink ; others are black above and pink beneath. This Whale is 

 believed by the Indians to attack a man. in the water, and it is 

 added that the Sotalvi of the same streams will defend him from 

 these attacks ! Naturally, therefore, superstitious reverence 

 attaches to this Dolphin, which is tiresome to the naturalist who 

 wants specimens, as Professor Louis Agassiz found. 



In tlie genus Fmitojyoria ^ the dorsal tin is well developed 

 and falcate. The teeth are very numerous, 200 in all. The 

 ribs articulate as in Dolphins. The skull closely resembles that 

 of Inia, and the scapula is, as in that genus, " normal." 



The proper name for Poritoporia is really Stenodclphis, which 

 name was first used by Gervais a montli or two before Gray, who 

 separated it from the vague Beljjhinus of its original discoverer, 

 Gervais himself. It has a longer snout than Ijiia, which, being 

 bent towards the extremity in a downward direction, curiously 

 sugrrests tlic skull of a Curlew. In details, however, the skull is 

 exceedingly like tliat of Inia. It is nearly symmetrical. The 

 vertebral formula appears to be the following: — C 7, D 10, L 5, 

 Ca 20 = 42, just one over tlie number of the vertebrae in 

 Inia. The sternum is in two pieces. Of the ten pairs of 

 ribs tlie first three are double-headed. These and the next have 

 sternal moieties joining the sternum, of whicli the first three are 

 ossified, the last being apparently merely a ligament. 



There is a single species of the genus, F. UainvUlii. This 

 Whale is described by Mr. Lydekker as being of a clear V)rown 

 colour, harmonising with the waters of the estuary of the 

 Amazons and the La Plata which it inhaluts. The same colour 

 characterises Sotalia p)ullida of tliose parts of the world, and 



1 Flower, Trans. Zool. Soc. vi. 1867, p. lOG ; and Burnieister, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1867, p. 484. 



