468 DELPHINID^. 



that date it has occurred in several instances and at different 

 parts of our coast, in Scotland and Ireland, as well as in 

 England, One taken near Preston is mentioned hy Mr. 

 Jenyns ; a specimen caught on the south coast of Ireland 

 in 1829 is figured by Dr. Gray in the " Zoology of the 

 Erebus and Terror." In the same year one was taken in 

 the Thames below the Nore ; its skeleton is in the Museum 

 of the Royal College of Surgeons. The skeletons of two, 

 taken in the Firth of Forth, are preserved at Edinburgh, 

 one of which, in the Surgeons' Hall, has the teeth acute. 

 A large shoal was taken near Holyhead in 1866, the 

 skeletons and skulls of some of which are preserved in 

 Museums at Oxford and Cambridge. 



Little has been recorded of its habits. It appears 

 occasionally to enter rivers. Montagu's specimen was 

 taken five miles from the mouth of the .River Dart, and 

 showed great tenacity of life, having sufibred the attacks 

 of eight men armed with spears and guns, and assisted 

 by dogs, for four hours before it expired : when wounded 

 it made a noise like the bellowing of a bull. The one 

 taken in the Thames in 1828 also, is recorded by Mr. 

 Howslip to have " survived many hours after it was 

 dragged out of the water, during which time it emitted a 

 sound not unlike the bellowing of a calf." 



The forehead is rounded, the beak distinctly marked, 

 but shorter than in the Common Dolphin, and.the lower 

 jaw slightly the longest. The flipper is about the length 

 of the dorsal-fin, both being shorter than in the last 

 species. The upper parts are purplish-black, the sides 

 dusky, paling to a dirty white on the belly. The colour 

 is perhaps variable, for Prof. Schlegel has figured one of a 

 uniform black all over {Dieren, t. 12). 



The number of teeth varies from twenty to twenty-five 

 in each side of either jaw ; in the adult animal they are 



