1234 THE CETACEANS 



This species appears to range over all temperate and tropical seas, 

 being occasionally met with on the British coasts. An example was 

 taken at Holyhead in the autumn of 1868; a second was stranded in 1888 on the 

 coast of Kirkcudbright, while two entered the river Humber in 1889. 



Till recently very little was known as to the habits of this species, 

 but the establishment of a fishery for its capture at Hatteras, in North 

 Carolina, has enabled Mr. F. W. True to gather some information on this subject. 

 It appears that these dolphins are abundant off the coasts of Hatteras, and associate 

 in schools of considerable size. On the nineteenth of May fourteen of these animals 

 were secured at one haul of the nets in the morning, while in the afternoon of the 

 same day no less than sixty-six were taken. It the spring the schools generally 

 comprise a nearly equal number of individuals of each sex, and include animals of 

 all ages; but later on in the season they are more uniform as regards sex and age, 

 some herds consisting only of old males. It is believed that these dolphins migrate 

 northward in the spring, and southward in the autumn, although a few remain at 

 Hatteras throughout the year. The breeding season commences in the spring, but 



BOTTLE- NOSED DOLPHIN. 

 (From True, Bulletin of the U. S. National Museum, 1889.) 



in the more northerly districts appears to be continued on into the summer. When 

 the old ones were captured in the nets, the young would remain close alongside. 



The largest specimen caught at Hatteras measured twelve feet in length and 

 yielded twenty-four gallons of oil; but the average product during the winter is only 

 about eight gallons. Some idea of the number of these dolphins frequenting the 

 Carolina seas may be gathered from the fact that between the fifteenth of November, 

 1884, and the middle of the following May, no less than twelve hundred and sixty- 

 eight of them were caught at Hatteras. 



THE ROUGH-TOOTHED DOLPHINS 

 Genus Steno 



The rough-toothed dolphin (Steno frontatus), from the Indian and Atlantic 

 Oceans, is the representative of a genus comprising several more or less nearly allied 

 species, mostly confined to the warmer seas. They are distinguished by the great 

 length of the beak, which is distinctly marked off from the head, and in the dried 



