HEAVISIDE'S DOLPHIN 1221 



which the sound comes, and rarely fail to secure the porpoise. They use long 

 smooth-bored guns, loaded with a handful of powder, and a heavy charge of double- 

 B shot. As soon as the porpoise is shot, they paddle rapidly up to him and kill him 

 with a spear, to prevent his flopping about and upsetting the canoe after they have 

 taken him aboard. The manner of taking a porpoise on board is to insert two 

 fingers of the right hand into the blowhole, take hold of the pectoral fin with the 

 left hand, and lift the creature up until at least one-half of his length is above the 

 gunwale of the canoe, and then drag him aboard. This is comparatively easy to 

 accomplish in smooth water, but when the feat is performed in a heavy sea, one can 

 hardly realize the skill and daring required. In rough weather, with a high sea 

 running, the Indian is compelled to stand up in his canoe when he fires, otherwise 

 he could not see his game. In such work as this, one would suppose that upsets 

 would be unavoidable; but, strange to say, they seldom happen, and only under cir- 

 cumstances where the Indian's skill or foresight is unavailing." 



Although Mr. True believes that there are two other species of por- 

 poises with back fins inhabiting American waters, it will be unnecessary 

 to allude further to them here, and we accordingly pass on to the In- 

 dian porpoise (P. phoccenoides] . This species is readily distinguished by the absence 

 of the back fin, and the reduced number of the teeth, of which there are about 

 eighteen on each side of the jaws. Of small size, it is less than four feet in length, 

 and is of a uniform black color. It inhabits the shores of the Indian Ocean, from 

 the Cape of Good Hope to Japan, and has been taken in many of the tidal rivers of 

 India, and in the Yang-tse-Kiang, at a distance of nearly one thousand miles from, 

 its mouth. 



The following account of the habits of this species is given by Mr. 

 F. W. Sinclair, who states that it " frequents the tidal creeks, not as- 

 cending very far, and the sounds among the reefs and islands. It feeds chiefly on 

 prawns, also on small cephalopods, and fish. It does not appear to herd in schools, 

 more than four or five, being rarely, if ever, seen together. Usually it is solitary; 

 the pairs seem to consist of female and calf, more often than male and female. The 

 young (one in number) are born, apparently, about October. The roll of this por- 

 poise is like that of P. communis. It does not jump or turn somersaults, and is, on 

 the whole, a sluggish little porpoise." It appears to be found only in shallow- 

 water. 



HEAVISIDE'S DOLPHIN 

 Genus Cephalorhynchus 



Heaviside's dolphin {Cephalorhynchus heavisidei ) , from the Cape of Good 

 Hope, is the typical representative of a genus which, according to Mr. True, includes 

 four species, all inhabiting the warmer seas of the Southern Hemisphere. These 

 dolphins are of small size, and remarkable for their peculiar coloration. The head 

 is conical, without any distinct beak, and the teeth are small and sharp, varying in 

 number from twenty-five to thirty-one on each side of the jaws. The back fin is 



