478 



PROF. FLOWER ON THE DELPHINID^. [NoV. 20, 



TURSIOPS. 



Tursio, Gray, Zool. 'Erebus' and 'Terror,' p. 37 (184()). 



Tursiops, Gervais, Hist. Nat. des Mammileres, ii. p. 323 (1855) '. 



The type of this group is Delphinus tursio of Bonnaterre and 

 Cuvier, so named Ijecause it was supposed to be the I), tursio of 

 Fabricius, a very doubtful identification, especially since, as I am 

 informed on the high authority of tlie late Professor Reiiihardt, no 

 specimens of this species have ever been sent from Greenland, its 

 range in the northerly direction not extending so far. It is frequently 

 met with in the seas around the British Isles, and its external and 

 osteological characters are now verv well known. I have given a 



Fig. 5. Palate of Tursiops tursio. 



figure of its external appearance in the Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. xi. 

 pi. i., and have observed the same coloration in several other speci- 

 mens, including the one which was exhibited at the Westminster 

 Aquarium last September. Fischer's description, taken from speci- 

 mens captured on the west coast of France, is different. He says : — 

 "Tout le corps est d'un noir intense, a I'exception d'une bande 

 ventrale etroite, d'un gris clair chez le male, d'un blanc pur chez la 

 femelle." Schlegel has figured one from the coast of Holland which 

 appears to he quite black ; but whether this was the original colour 



' " Afin d'^viter toute meprise, uous appellerons Ticrsiops et non Tttrsio le 

 genre auquel le Nesaniak on Tursio sert de type, quoique M. Gray I'appelle 

 Tursio, mais sans faire attention que le genre Tursio, propose anterieurenient 

 par Wagler, a pour unique espeee un animal tout a fait different, le Delphiu- 

 aptiire de Peron." — Gervais, loc. cit. 



