3 r 4 



THE ANIMALS OF THE ANTARCTIC 



patches of white occupying the greater portion of each side of the body. Pos- 

 teriorly the two hind patches are united by a narrow isthmus of white across the 

 upper surface of the base of the tail, while the two patches on each side are 

 sundered from one another only by a narrow strip of chocolate, descending from 

 the base of the back-fin to join the brown of the belly. The nearest approxima- 

 tion to this style of colouring is presented by certain dolphins of the genus 

 Lagenorkynchus, and more especially by L. cruciger, but the dark under-parts 

 appear peculiar to the Antarctic species. 



Perhaps, however, the most noteworthy of the smaller cetaceans is the 

 La Plata dolphin (Pontoporia, or Sienodelphis, blainvillei), of the estuary of 



THE WRT-BILL. 



the Rio de la Plata and the bay of Monte Video. This is a long-beaked species, of 

 between 4 and 5 feet in length, and of a uniformly light brown colour, somewhat 

 darker on the back than beneath ; this colouring being in harmony with the 

 muddy water of the La Plata river. This dolphin is related to the inia (Inia 

 geoffmyensis) of the Amazons, with which it constitutes the family Iniidce; a 

 more distant relative being the susu (Platanista gangetica) of the larger Indian 

 rivers, referred to in the second volume. 



WryBill. 



Among the birds of the Antarctic, one of the most remarkable is 

 the wry-bill (Anarhyvchus frontalis), a member of the plover tribe 

 inhabiting the coasts of New Zealand. The unique feature of this species is that 

 the beak is strongly curved to the right side, apparently for the purpose of enabling 

 the bird to pick up insects and crustaceans from under plant-stems, around which 



