MAMMALIA. MAXATID.E. 



205 



tinguished from the common dolphin chiefly by the 

 projection of the lower jaw beyond the upper. There 

 is some reason to believe that the dolphin (D. trunca- 

 tus) described by Mr. G. Montague in the third volume 

 of the Wernerian Society's Transactions, is referable to 

 this species. This specimen was captured off Totness 

 in Devonshire, in the summer of 1814. After the 

 animal had been exhibited, the bones were regarded 

 as rejectamenta, and thrown into the river Dart. 

 Mr. James Cornish, however, subsequently succeeded 

 in recovering the skull, the length of which was twenty 

 inches and a half. "On each side of the upper jaw," 

 says Mr. Montague, "there are sockets for twenty 

 teeth, besides a long depression behind the posterior 

 socket." The under jaw was somewhat longer, and 

 contained twenty-three sockets on either side. Such 

 of the teeth as were discovered were for the most part 

 worn and flat on their crowns. The others, it seems, 

 were knocked out, and freely distributed amongst the 

 curiosity-loving people of Totness ! 



SOWERBTS DOLPHIN (Diodon Sowerbcei), of which 

 only a single example has yet appeared, is character- 

 ized chiefly by the possession of a single pair of teeth, 

 occupying the lower jaw. It was cast ashore near 

 Brodie House, Elginshire, and is thus described by 

 Mr. Sowerby, in the first volume of his well-known 

 " British Miscellany": "The animal is oblong ; black 

 above, nearly white below; sixteen feet long, eleven 

 in circumference at the thickest part, with one fin on 

 the back; head acuminated; lower jaw blunt, longer 

 than the upper, with two short lateral bony teeth; 

 upper jaw sharp, let into the lower one by two lateral 

 impressions corresponding with the teeth ; opening of 

 the mouth, one foot six inches. Under the throat are 

 found two diverging furrows, terminating below the 

 eyes, which are small, and placed six inches behind 

 the mouth. Spiracles lunate, the ends pointing for- 

 wards." The specimen was a male. 



Amongst the many other numerous and interesting 

 members of the present family known to exist, we can 

 only particularize the following : 



PERON'S VQWBIX (DelphinapterusPeranii), RIGHT- 

 WHALE PORPOISE, or AVHITE-BEAKED DOLPHIN. This 

 species is found on the southern side of the equator, off 

 and between the opposite coasts of Africa and Brazil. 

 It is gregarious in its habits, and readily distinguished 

 by the lustrous white beak, abdomen, and pectoral 

 fins, the other parts being quite black. The head is 

 pointed and slightly convex, ; the jaws, in different 

 examples, are furnished with from thirty - eight to 

 forty-two on each side, above and below. 



THE INIA (Inia Geo/royii), or BOLIVIAN DOLPHIN, 

 is a very singular animal, having the breathing aper- 

 ture placed far backward on a line with the pectoral 

 fins. The dorsal fin is small. The lips are deeply 

 cleft to beneath the eye; the auditory meatus being 

 likewise unusually large. Mr. Blyth observes that the 

 species is also remarkable as " occurring thousands of 

 miles from the sea, appearing to inhabit only the 

 remote tributaries of the Amazon, and the elevated 

 lakes of Peru. The singular character of possessing 

 bristly hairs on the snout has also been observed in 

 them /when very young. This species has large swim- 



ming paws, and thirty-four teeth on each side, above 

 and below, all of them rough, marked with deep and 

 interrupted furrows, and of an irregular, mammillary 

 shape behind, which is very peculiar. A female speci- 

 men measured seven feet long, and the males are 

 stated to be double that size ; colour variable, com- 

 monly pale blue above, passing into a roseate hue 

 beneath. It comes more frequently to the surface than 

 the marine species, and is generally met with in troops 

 of three or four individuals." 



THE SOU-SOTT (Platanista Gangetica) or Dolphin 

 of the Ganges, is another cetacean of considerable 

 interest, frequenting the mouths, and ascending some- 

 times high up the rivers. It is readily distinguished 

 by its elongated and laterally compressed snout, swollen 

 at the extremity from enlargement of the jaws, which 

 latter support in front numerous long, conical teeth ; 

 there being thirty of these organs on each side, above 

 and below. The breathing opening has the form of a 

 longitudinal fissure, whilst the upper borders of the 

 maxillary bones are prolonged upwards in a singular 

 manner. The eyes are very small, and at first sight 

 scarcely discernible. The pectoral flippers are sub- 

 triangular, the dorsal fin being placed far back. The 

 Sou- Sou attains a length of seven feet. It was origi- 

 nally described by Pliny, under the generic title here 

 employed. 



FAMILY IV. MANATUXffi. 



It is a matter of opinion whether it be more correct 

 to associate this family with the present order, or with 

 the Pachydermata ; for whilst its members appear, 

 by external characters and habits, more intimately 

 allied with the Cetacea, their internal structure, on 

 the other hand, plainly demonstrates a close alliance 

 with the latter group. Some have suggested, not 

 without reason, that they might almost be treated as a 

 separate order ; but, all things considered, it is perhaps 

 better, and certainly more convenient, to adopt our 

 present allocation. All the members of this family 

 are vegetable feeders, and, in consequence, most com- 

 monly styled Herbivorous or Phytophagous cetacea. 

 In conformity with their algous diet, we find the teeth 

 modified so as to secure due mastication of the coarst 

 fuci, the molars, when present, being more or less 

 flattened on the crown. The intestinal canal attains a 

 prodigious length, and in the Rytina is said to measure 

 upwards of twenty times the entire length of the animal. 

 The stomach is constricted near the centre, and more 

 or less complicated by coeca and follicles in the differ- 

 ent species. The skin is rather hairy, and the face 

 furnished with bristle-like whiskers; but the tail is 

 flattened out transversely as in ordinary cetaceans a 

 circumstance very strongly insisted on by those who, 

 with ourselves, prefer to retain these animals in the 

 present order. The limbs or paddles are furnished 

 with claws ; but there is no trace of posterior extremi- 

 ties. The nostrils are quite separate, placed in front 

 of the abrupt snout, opening near the upper lip. 

 The front of the jaws is covered with horny plates. 

 The mammae are two in number, and situated below 

 the thorax ; and there are from fifteen to nineteen pairs 



