IV. Description of the Skeleton of tJie^CJmf^se White Dolphin (Delphinus sinensis, 



By William Henry Flower, F.R.S., F.B.C.S., F.Z.S., Conservator of 

 the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. 



Bead June 10th, 1869. 



[Plates XVII. & XVIII.] 



lHE Swedish missionary and naturalist, Peter Osbeck, writing in 1751, says that, while 

 lying at anchor in the Canton River, " Snow-white Dolphins {Delphinus chinensis) 

 tumbled about the ship ; but at a distance they seemed in nothing different from the 

 common species, except in the white colour" '. Upon the strength of this brief descrip- 

 tion Delphinus chinensis is introduced by Desmarest into the list of species of the genus, 

 though with the asterisk indicating "les especes douteuses ou trop peu connues." 2 



Fred. Cuvier sums up as follows the opinion of the zoologists of his time upon the 

 White Dolphin of Osbeck (whose name he modifies into the more classical sinensis) : — 

 " Quelques auteurs distinguent ce dauphin comme espece, et M. Desmarest est du 

 nombre. D'autres, tels que Bonnaterre (Cetologie, p. 21), n'en font qu'une variete du 

 dauphin commun, prenant a la lettre les premiers mots d'Osbeck ; et mon frere etait 

 dispose a reunir ce dauphin blanc au delphinaptere de Peron (Ossem. Foss. t. v. p. 289). 

 Le fait est que la phrase d'Osbeck est insufnsante pour caracteriser aujourd'hui une 

 espece du genre dauphin." 3 



In Dr. Gray's ' Catalogue of Seals and Whales in the British Museum,' 2nd edit. 

 (1866), " D. chinensis, Desm., from Osbeck's Voy.," is admitted among the species 

 " requiring further examination " (p. 266). In the more recent ' Synopsis ' of the 

 same zoologist, which is confined to the species which he has "been able to examine, 

 compare, and characterize," it is omitted altogether \ 



As far as I can ascertain, no portion of this striking and well-marked species has ever 

 been examined by any naturalist, and, but for the passing allusion of the Swedish tra- 

 veller more than a hundred years ago, nothing would be known even of its existence. 



Under these circumstances it is a subject of congratulation that our zealous member, 

 Mr. Robert Swinhoe, H. B. M. Consul at Amoy, has succeeded in obtaining a fine 



1 ' A Voyage to China and the East Indies ' (in 1751), by Peter Osbeck. Translated by J. E. Forster, Lond. 

 1771, vol. ii. p. 27. 



1 Desmarest, ' Mammalogie,' Encyclop. Method. (1822), p. 514. 



* F. Cuvier, ' Histoire naturelle des Cetaces ' (1836), p. 213. 



4 ' Synopsis of the Species of "Whales and Dolphins in the Collection of the British Museum.' By J. E. Gray, 

 1868. 



vol. vii. — part ii. Jan. 1870. t 



