210 Transactions. — Zoology, 



described as having the teeth §f , whereas our dolphin has teeth §§. 

 Moreover, the dorsal fin in the Cape species is stated to be triangular, 

 while in ours it is rounded as shown in my original sketch. This feature 

 has been confirmed by Van Beneden, who has founded a new species under 

 the name of Electra hectori (Bull. Acad. Boy. de Belgique, 1881) on a very 

 complete specimen presented to him by Dr. Finsch, who obtained it on the 

 north-east coast of New Zealand. 



The only discernible difference in the description of the two animals is 

 that the nose and forehead were white in my specimen, and black in Dr. 

 Finsch's, a character of small importance where all the other colouration is 

 the same. According to Professor Flower, Electra clancula is only founded 

 on a skull, and this skull, although agreeing in other respects, differs so 

 materially in the form of its pterygoid — a character which Gray does not 

 allude to — from our species that he places it almost in the same species 

 as the Cape dolphin, distinguished by the specific name conferred by Van 

 Beneden. The statement which I made in the first notes of this dolphin, 

 to the effect that the "cervical vertebrae" are anchylosed, should probably 

 have been " anterior cervical vertebrse," and I have to thank Professor 

 Flower for pointing out the error ; but, unfortunately, until new specimens 

 have been obtained and prepared, the complete osteology cannot be com- 

 pared, as both the complete skeletons which I recorded as being hi the 

 Museum have been given away, one to the "Challenger" Expedition, and 

 the other to the British Museum, under the impression that there was a 

 third complete specimen in store. This latter has been recently cleaned, 

 and proves to be altogether a different species, but one with which, as 

 already stated, the present dolphin is often confounded. 

 8. Delphinus delphis, Zimm. 

 D. forsteri, Gray ; Hector, Trans. N.Z. Inst., v., 158. 

 D. novce-zealandice, Q. and G. ; Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst., ix., 349. 



Comparison of these types with a large number of specimens from these 

 seas has enabled Professor Flower definitely to determine that the above 

 species are in every character identical, thus adding another to the list of 

 Cetaceans that have a world-wide geographical range. In the Museum 

 there is. a fairly complete skeleton of this species, and a number of skulls 

 and lower jaws. 



9. Tursiops tursio, Buonaterre. 

 Tursio metis, Gray; Hector, Trans. N.Z. Inst., v., 162. 



These species are now considered to be closely allied, if not identical. A 

 comparison of a complete skeleton in the Museum with the descriptions and 

 anatomical drawings of the northern species does not afford any ground for 

 keeping them as distinct species. 



