472 DELPHTNIDiE. 



CETACEA. DELPHINIDm. 



{ODONTOCETI.) 



^3 



WHITE-BEAKED DOLPHIN. 



Delphinus albirostris (J. E. Gray). 



Siyecific CJiaracter. — Deep purple-black above, beak, lips and belly creamy 

 white; the colours sharply defined. Teeth ||:|3 to ||:?|, small, curved. Ver- 

 tebrae 88 to 90, ribs 15 pairs. Length of adult 7 to 9 feet. 



Delphinus albirostris, J. E. Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., XVII. (1846). 

 Lagenorhynchus albirostris, ,, Zool. Ereb. and Ten*., I., 35. ,, 



Several examples of the White-beaked Dolphin have 

 been taken on the British coasts. One was killed at Har- 

 tlepool in 1834, although the species was not recognized 

 at the time ; its skull, formerly in the Durham Museum, 

 is now in that of the University of Cambridge. The 

 same fine collection also contains the skeleton of a young 

 male taken on the English coast in 1867. One was cap- 

 tured by some herring-fishers in 1846 off Yarmouth, and 

 was described and figured under the name of D. tursio 

 by Mr. Brightwell in Vol. XVII. of the " Annals and 

 Magazine of Natural History ; " another figure from the 

 same original drawing is given by Dr. Gray in " The 



