478 



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



TURSIOPS. 



Tursio, Gray, Zool. ' Erebus' and 'Terror,' p. 37 (184(5). 

 Tursiops, Gervais, Hist. Nat. des Mammiieres, ii. p. 323 (1855) \ 

 The type of this group is Delphinus tursio of Bonnaterre and 

 Cuvier, so named because it was supposed to be the D. tursio of 

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

 informed ou the high authority of the late Professor Reinhardt, no 

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

 rauge 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 very 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 e'troite, 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 be quite black ; but whether this was the original colour 



' " Afin d'eviter toute meprise, nous appellerons Tursiops et non Tursio le 

 genre auquel le Nesarnak ou Tursio sert de type, quoique M. Gray I'appelle 

 Turdo, mais sans faire attention que le genre Tursio, propose anterieurement 

 par Wagler, a pour unique espece un animal tout a fait different, le Delphin- 

 aptere de Peron." — Gervais, lov. cit. 



