STENO ROSTRATtlS. 25 



the stuffed skins which had been associated with the skulls iu the 

 Paris Museum did not belong to the same species. Whea Cuvier rec- 

 ognized the latter fact he at the same time arrived at the conclusion 

 that Van Breda's specimen was specifically identical with the skulls in 

 the Paris Museum. He also received from Brest a figure of a specimen 

 which seemed to him identical with Van Breda's (Oss./oss., 4th ed., Viii, 

 pt. 2, p. 122, note). Van Breda's figure and the figure of the Brest 

 specimen (copied by F. Cuvier), therefore, represent the exterior of the 

 species under discussion according to Ouvier's best knowledge and 

 belief. 



In accepting his opinion, however, we meet at once with a serious 

 difficulty. The figures referred to represent a dolphin having the beak 

 confluent with the forehead, a point strongly insisted npon by G. Cuvier 

 and again by F. Cuvier. But in 187G Peters described a specimen of 

 Steno the skull of which is, generically at least, identical with the skulls 

 in the Paris Museum, but which has the beak distinctly marked off 

 from the forehead as in the species of Tursiops and Delpliinm. We 

 have, therefore, either to consider the figures known to Cuvier incor- 

 rect, or to regard Peters' specimen as belonging to a distinct subgenus. 

 From this dilemma nothing thus far known can save ns. The figures 

 in question are crude, but it seems scarcely probable that both would 

 have the same defect as regards the beak. Regarding the /Slow per- 

 sjjicillatus of Peters, Professor Flower says : 



If it is not specifically identical with, it is ccrtaiuly very closely allieil to Sleiw 

 rostratiis. (Characters and Divisions, p. 48G. ) 



I examined the type-skull in 18S7, through the kindness of Dr. Hilgen- 

 dorf, and was unable to see wherein it differed from the ordinary S. 

 rostratus. The rostrum, as indicated in Peters' figure, is rather abruptly 

 and unsymmetrically terminated, as though the tip had been cut off. 

 Such, however, does not appear to have been the case, and it is possible 

 that the individual was injured by accident during life. This condition 

 of the rostrum makes it appear that its proportional width at the mid- 

 dle is unusually great ; according to ray measurements it is 19.8 per 

 cent, of the length. But with the explanation given I do not think that 

 this is to be regarded as of importance. The teeth are rugose, as in 

 ordinary specimens of S. rostratus ; they number l^^ly. ThepremaxilLne 



arc high, thick, and rounded. 



In external form and coloration there is a close resemblance to Tur- 

 siops fursio, except that a dark eye-ring and forehead-line are present, 

 as in /). (IclpMs. The cervical region is longer than iu Tursiops, but the 

 number of vertebra^ is 'nearly the same in both. 



The facts being such as they are, it has seemed to me best to hold 

 Peters' specimen apart, under the name of ^Stoio perspicillatiis, and I 

 have, therefore, entered that species separately in the synopsis. For 

 further remarks on the figures known to Cuvier, see p. 27. 



