244 



PERNETTY'S DOLPHIN. 

 PLATE XXIV. 



Delphinus Pemettii, Desm. Blainville, Lesson. 



On the SOth of October tlie vessel of Bougainyille, 

 in which Pernetty sailed, being near the Cape- 

 de-Verd Islands, was surrounded by about a hun- 

 di*ed Dolphins, which approached very near them. 

 " They appeared," says Pernetty, " to have come only 

 for the purpose of amusing us ; they made extra- 

 ordinary leaps out of the water ; many of these in 

 their capering vaulted four feet high, and turned 

 over two or three times in the air." 



One of these Dolphins which was taken, weighed 

 a hundred pounds ; its beak was slender, and covered 

 with a thick and grejdsh skin. " I think," says the 

 author, " it was of that species which is named the 

 Monk of the Sea^ for the anterior part of the head 

 terminated in a hood near the root of the muzzle, 

 and there presented something like the edge of a 

 cloak ; the back was black, and the abdomen of a 

 pearly-grey colour, verging to yelloA^sh, dappled 

 with spots, some black and others of an iron-grey 

 colour : the teeth were sharp, white, and in the 

 form of those of the pike." To these peculiar cha- 

 racters, Pernetty adds those which are common to 

 all the genus, and subjoins one which, we believe, 



