BY H. H, SCOTT AND CLIVE E. LORD. 97' 



paper concerning the manner in which both genera and 

 species of the Cetacean order have been created in tJie 

 past". (^) iiiese remarks apply with added force to the 

 Delphinidce, as pointed out in strong terms by Professor 

 Flower, <'') when writing concerning Dr. Gray's tendency 

 to multiply species. 



Since Gray published his original description it has 

 been usual to refei' to the Australian form of Tursiops as 

 T. catalania, and to eliminate T. iursio as an Australian 

 species. We propose to show that T . tursio is to be found 

 in the Australian Zone, and, further, that we have certain 

 material which may relate to the species catalania. Our 

 present opinion regarding this second species is mainly 

 based on a study of the vertebrae, which differ in a re- 

 markable manner from the typical Tursio. Unfortunately, 

 Gray's C'riginal aescription of catalania, is founded mainly 

 on a rather vague description of the osteology of tbe skull. 

 We hope to gather further material in the future regard- 

 ing this presumably second species, and to place our obser- 

 vations on record. In the present instance we will con- 

 fine our attentions to showing that there is in Australian 

 seas a species which simulates very closely that of the 

 European T. tursio. The distribution of this species is 

 evidently cosmopolitan, but, in order to make a slight 

 local distinction, we propose' to refer tO' the species in the 

 vernacular as "The Southerrn Form." 



As Gray's original description is not readily available 

 to many Australian students, it has been considered ad- 

 visable to refer to portions of it in detail. Particularly 

 so as it has an important bearing on the present paper. 

 Gray stated <^) inter alia : — 



"Mr. John Macgillivray has sent to Mr. Cuming, who 

 has transferred them to the British Museum collection, 

 two skulls of a species of Dolphin or Bottlenose which he 

 regards as probably new. These skulls were accompanied 

 by the following notes: — 



"Delphinus, N.S. The larger of the two skulls be- 

 longed to an individual killed off Cape Melville (within 

 the Great Barrier Reefs), north-east coast of Australia, 

 September 5th, 1860. It was a female, 7-?, feet in length. 

 . . . The smaller of ihe two skulls represents another of the 

 same species. It was considerably smaller than the 

 first one, being only 6| feet in length. . . The two skuHs 

 differ in shaioe and size. No 1 is 17 inches long ; the 

 beak to the notch is 10 inches, and the upper teeth-bone 



(3) Pap. and Proc. Roy. Soc. Tas , 1919, p. 6. 



(4) Flower, Proc. Zoo. Soc. Loud, 18S3, p. i66. 

 (.5) P.Z.S., 1862, p. 143. 



G 



