ORDER VI. THE CETACEA. 2G9 



Genus IxiA. The iuia has a beak like the dolphin, but cylindrical, and 

 bristled with stron"- hairs. 



/. Boliviensic. This singular species, which appears to form a link be- 

 tween the Soosoo of the Ganges, and the Stellcrus, one of the herliivorous 

 ceta^, inhabits solely rivers and fresh-water lakes, and is met with thousands 

 of miles from the sea. It is found in all the streams which traverse the im- 

 mense plains of the province of ]Moxos, and which go to form the rivers con- 

 stituting the ^ladieras, one of the earliest triliutarics of the Amazon ; tiie 

 animal ascends almost to the foot of the Eastern Cordilleras. Tlie males are 

 said to be about fourteen feet long, the females seven. The color varies ; 

 usually it is a pale-blue above, passing into a rose-color below ; the tail 

 and pectorals are blue. Some are all over of a rosy hue, and others arc 

 blackish. This species comes oftener to the surface to breathe than tiie ma- 

 rine varieties, and is not so active in its movements. They habitually luiite 

 in little troops of three or four individuals, and are observed to raise their 

 snouts from the water whilst devovu'ing their prey, which appears to consist 

 entirely of fish. The mother exhibits all the usual ati'ection of the order for 

 her young, and is all devotedness to their well-being and safety. 



Genus Oxri'TERUS. A Sicilian naturalist — 'SI. Eefinesque Smaltz — 

 first mentions this animal, which he had seen in the ^lediterrancan, and 

 described as a dolphin, with two dorsal fins. 



O. lilihioccroti. — Rhinoceros AVhale. This animal derives its name from 

 the circumstance that it has a fin on the head, bent backward, the same as 

 that on the back. All the information we have in regard to this whale is 

 contained in the following paragraph from the work of (^uoy and Gaimard : 



"In October, LSO'J, in going from the Sandwich Islands to Aew South 

 Wales, many dolphins, in troops, were performing their rapid evolutions 

 about the vessel. The size of this creature was about that of the conmion 

 porpoise ; the upper part of the body to the dorsal fin was spotted black 

 and wliite." 



Here terminates the great and interesting order of Cetaceans. Although 

 we have referred to nearly all the genera and species described by the 

 authors, we are quite sure that many have escaped the attention of natural- 

 ists. Intelligent navigators speak of whales, and describe them with great 

 minuteness, — animals varying from thirty to one hundred feet in length, — 

 which as yet have no place in history. Captain Henry J. Coop, of New 

 ]5edford, long engaged in the business of "whaling" in the northern seas, is 

 certain of three distinct varieties, well known to sailors, but entirely un- 

 known to science. 



