184 M. F. Cuvier De I'Histoire 



for their intelligence and amiability. M. F. Cuvier seems disposed to 

 dispute the opinion given in the Regne Animal, that they are the most 

 carnivorous and cruel of the order;* and accordingly, he would exclude 

 from the crowd of fictions which have been framed, the account given 

 by Pliny of that kind dolphin which daily transported his youthful 

 friend to school, and of that other, which used to be the companion 

 and play-fellow of the bathers in the present Gulf of St Euphemia on 

 the coast of Naples; and,, thirdly, Pliny's additional statement, that 

 the fishermen were in the habit of employing dolphins to assist them 

 in their labours, and then rewarded them for their trouble ; he thinks 

 they may contract familiarity with man, may recognize his voice, and 

 obey him. t We have no doubt that several, perhaps the majority, of 

 the lesser whales are acute and sagacious animals. The ancients very 

 generally made this statement, and probably had good grounds for 

 doing so ; but we cannot suppose that such an exposition of Pliny's 

 statements as the above, will be regarded as very satisfactory by most 

 of our readers. 



In descending to the species of this subdivision, we find that M. 

 Cuvier has 3 Delphinorhynci, 16 Dolphins, properly so called, 1 Inia, 

 7 Phoccence, and 27 Dolphins, (we use his language), whose existence 

 and characters are not yet satisfactorily ascertained ; then succeed 

 the Narwhal, Hyperoodon, and Plantanista genera, each containing 

 one species. Recognizing, for the moment, the arrangement indi- 

 cated above, we may state concerning the dolphins, that there is a 

 notice of a new species not generally known in this country, and 

 which we have not seen in any other systematic work. Our author 

 calls it the Ceruleo-albus. Its characters are very slightly touched 

 upon. The snout is said to be more covered and compressed than 

 in the common dolphin, and its fins more pointed ; seen from above 

 it is wholly of a deep steel-blue colour ; the under parts are of a 

 pure and brilliant white, variously marked with black. It frequents 

 the eastern shores of South America. This account is taken from 

 the Nov. Acta Nat. Cuv. T. xvi. 



Another animal which is here for the first time introduced into a 

 systematic work is the lnias, a very curious variety lately describ- 

 ed by M. D'Orbigny, (Nouv. Ann. des Mus. T. iii.) In the work 

 now under review, it is placed somewhat inaccurately between the 

 dolphins and phocaenee or porpoises, in as much as M. D'Orbigny re- 

 marks that it forms a link between the Platanista and the Stelle- 

 rus. The learned naturalist encountered this animal in (High Peru) 

 Bolivia, in a tributary of the Amazons, 2100 miles from the sea ; 

 and in this locality it abounds, and is fished for its oil. Inia is a 



* P. 287- t p - "■ 



