fl xb 
IV. Description of the Skeleton of the Chinese White Dolphin (Delphinus sinensis, 
Osbeck). By Wiuu1am Henry Fiower, F.RS., F.R.CS., F.Z.S., Conservator of 
the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. 
Read June 10th, 1869. 
[Puates XVII. & XVIII.] 
THE Swedish missionary and naturalist, Peter Osbeck, writing in 1751, says that, while 
lying at anchor in the Canton River, ‘‘Snow-white Dolphins (Delphinus chinensis) 
tumbled about the ship; but at a distance they seemed in nothing different from the 
common species, except in the white colour’'. Upon the strength of this brief descrip- 
tion Delphinus chinensis is introduced by Desmarest into the list of species of the genus, 
though with the asterisk indicating “les espéces douteuses ou trop peu connues.”” 
Fred. Cuvier sums up as follows the opinion of the zoologists of his time upon the 
White Dolphin of Osbeck (whose name he modifies into the more classical sinensis) :-— 
““Quelques auteurs distinguent ce dauphin comme espéce, et M. Desmarest est du 
nombre. D/autres, tels que Bonnaterre (Cétologie, p. 21), nen font quune variété du 
dauphin commun, prenant a la lettre les premiers mots d’Osbeck; et mon frére était 
disposé 4 réunir ce dauphin blanc au delphinaptére de Péron (Ossem. Foss. t. v. p. 289). 
Le fait est que la phrase d’Osbeck est insuffisante pour caractériser aujourd’hui une 
espéce du genre dauphin.” * 
In Dr. Gray’s ‘Catalogue of Seals and Whales in the British a 2nd edit. 
(1866), “ D. chinensis, Desm., from Osbeck’s Voy.,” is admitted among the species 
“requiring further examination” (p. 266). In the more recent ‘Synopsis’ of the 
same zoologist, which is confined to the species which he has ‘‘ been able to examine, 
compare, and characterize,” it is omitted altogether *. 
As far as I can ascertain, no portion of this striking and well-marked species has ever 
been examined by any naturalist, and, but for the passing allusion of the Swedish tra- 
veller more than a hundred years ago, nothing would be known even of its existence. 
Under these circumstances it is a subject of congratulation that our zealous member, 
Mr. Robert Swinhoe, H. B. M. Consul at Amoy, has succeeded in obtaining a fine 
1 «A Voyage to China and the East Indies’ (in 1751), by Peter Osbeck. Translated by J. R. Forster, Lond. 
1771, vol. ii. p. 27. 
* Desmarest, ‘ Mammalogie,’ Encyclop. Méthod. (1822), p. 514. 
* F. Cuvier, ‘ Histoire naturelle des Cétacés’ (1836), p. 213. 
* «Synopsis of the Species of Whales and Dolphins in the Collection of the British Muscum.’ By J. E. Gray, 
1868. 
VOL. VII.—PART Ul. Jan. 1870. Y 
