684 DR. D. J. CUNNINGHAM ON [June 20, 



The white of the snout passes up so as to encircle the eye ; a faintly 

 marked streak passes in a horizontal direction from above the eye 

 along the flank, and ends in front of the dorsal fin, whilst the body 

 behind the dorsal 6n appears to be white. 



Van Beneden's own description of the Dolphin, which is framed 

 from an examination of two female specimens caught by the fishermen 

 of Ostend, one of which measured 7 feet in length, is as follows : — 

 "The head is prolonged into a sort of beak. From the base of the 

 beak, the head, the back, all the dorsal fin, the base of the tail and 

 upon the side, to the middle of the flanks, the skin is of a beautiful 

 black ; also the caudal fin and a great part of the pectoral fin. The 

 beak, or that part of the snout which rises abruptly, is of a yellow- 

 ish white. The entire lower surface of the body is of a shining 

 white. But what, in the markings, seems to characterize this 

 species best, independently of the pale colour of the beak, is 

 a white band which stretches upon the sides parallel to the 

 vertebral column, commencing above the eyes and becoming lost, 

 below the anterior border of the dorsal fin, in the white colour 

 of the abdomen. It follows from this that the body is white 

 below, upon the side of the abdomen and tail, and that an equally 

 white band is present upon the side of the back." Then in the 

 following page he states that " the lower jaw projects almost an inch 

 beyond the upper." 



But this description does not agree with the plate which ac- 

 companies it. As I have mentioned, the latter represents an animal 

 in which the whole posterior part of the body is of a light colour, 

 and in which the jaws are of equal length *, whilst in the letter- 

 press (p. 28) we find it clearly stated that " the back, dorsal fin, 

 and caudal fin are of a beautiful black," and that the lower jaw 

 projects an inch beyond the upper. The author makes no reference 

 to the position of the dorsal fin ; and we are therefore left to infer its 

 situation from the drawing. 



The memoir also contains an elaborate account of the skeletal 

 peculiarities of this species. The vertebrae are from 90 to 94 

 in number ; and the atlas and axis are anchylosed, whilst the 

 other five cervical vertebrae are free and possess thin overlapping 

 transverse processes. 



He states that in both specimens the dentition was 5? ; Lilljeborg 

 quotes it as ^, Gray as ^, and Brightwell as ^. 



Now as it appears to me that Van Beneden's account of D. albi- 

 rostris is the most reliable, I purpose making it the standard with 

 which to compare the Great-Grimsby Dolphin, in order to determine 

 whether or not it belongs to this species. But in making this com- 

 parison, it must be borne in mind that the semicartilaginous state of 

 home of its bones, the characters of the skull, and the bristles on the 

 snout, all contributed to show that the Great-Grimsby specimen had 

 not nearly reached adult life. 



* T do not refer to the drawing of the skull, which he also gives. This shows 

 ,i greater length of the inferior than the superior jaw. 



