PORPOISES AND DOLPHIXS. 61 



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 Kirkcudbrightshire ; while two entered the river Humber in 1889. 



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



H'ibits 



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 19th 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. In 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 



BOTTLE-NOSED DOLPHIN". 

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



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

 but 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 12 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 15th 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 skull is very narrow and compressed ; and also by the length of the bony 



