THE STRIPED PORPOISE. 235 



smallest of the whole group, and scarcely equalling 

 one-fiftieth part of the length of the largest genus, 

 the rorqual. It is interesting as exhibiting a 

 fair specimen of those many beautifully coloured 

 varieties, which abound more especially in the 

 southern seas, and excite the admiration of those 

 who have had the good fortune to behold them. 

 Though placed by Lesson among the Dolphins, yet 

 as the shape of the head differs from them and cor- 

 responds with the Porpoises, we shall, as he himself 

 advises (p. 338), arrange them with these latter. 



This species was seen not far from the Falkland 

 Islands. For a time it followed the vessel in a high 

 sea, frequently springing over the billows, and ap- 

 parently enjoyed the resistance experienced from 

 its agitated waves. It is about two feet and a half 

 long, and ten inches thick. It is short and also 

 slender in its forms. The upper half of its body is 

 of a deep shining black colour, the belly and lower 

 jaw are white. There is a large streak of satiny- 

 white running along each side of its body, but in- 

 terrupted in the middle, opposite the dorsal fin, 

 where the two portions of the stripe thus separated 

 enlarge. The snout is short and conical, the dorsal 

 fin is moderately high, black, and placed in the 

 middle of the body ; the tail is brown and scooped 

 out in the middle; the pectoral fins are thin and 

 white, except at the anterior edge, which is black. 



