4 PROF. W. H. FLOWER ON THE EXTERNAL CHARACTERS 



This figure is reproduced on a reduced scale in Bell's 'British Quadrupeds.' Bonna- 

 terre's figure of the Nesarnak (D. tursio), in his ' Cetologie,' 1789, pi. xi. fig. 1, appears 

 to be a modified copy of the same, though without acknowledgment. The three 

 transverse pale lines crossing the dark part of the body below the dorsal fin, which 

 form a marked feature in this figure, have not been observed in other specimens ; 

 they somewhat resemble the pale vertical lines which cross the sides of the two speci- 

 mens of the young of Risso's Dolphin which have been figured '. 



Another original figure is that given by Dr. Gray in the 10th Plate of the ' Zoology 

 of the Erebus and Terror.' It is from a drawing by Mr. R. Templeton, from a specimen 

 caught in the south of Ireland in November 1828, and evidently a young one, as 

 its length was only 7 feet 6 inches. It does not bear the appearance of very great 

 accuracy; the dorsal fin, especially, is more elevated and erect than in any of the 

 others. Schlegel's figure in his ' Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiete der Zoologie und ver- 

 gleichenden Anatomie,' Heft 1, 1841, from a specimen 11 feet long, taken off the coast 

 of Holland and stuffed in the Leiden Museum, besides differing in form (especially in 

 the very small size of the pectoral fin) from that known to be characteristic of the 

 species, is represented of a uniform black colour ; but it is not stated that this was the 

 case when the animal was fresh, and may have been due to changes in the process of 

 preservation. 



There can be little doubt of the correctness of Cuvier's identification of the animal 

 taken at Treport, on the coast of Normandy, in the beginning of May 1551, exhibited 

 at the Hotel de Nevers at Paris, and described by Belon under the name of " Oudre " 

 or " Orca," with this species. It was 9^ feet long, and had half as many teeth as the 

 true Dolphin, or eighty in all, not counting some small rudimentary ones in front. 

 Accepting this determination, the three species of which Belon was the first to give 

 original and tolerably accurate figures and descriptions are Belphinus delphis, D. tursio, 

 and Phoccena communis. 



A good description, but without figure, of a specimen taken upon the Suffolk coast 

 is given by Dr. W. B. Clarke in the Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 2, vol. iv. p. 100 

 (1849). 



The specimen now figured was taken, with several others, near Holyhead, on the 

 5th of October, 1868. Like the one above described, it was sent to Mr. Buckland, to 

 whose kindness I am indebted for the opportunity of drawing and describing it. The 

 skeleton was prepared for the Oxford University Museum. It was a male, not quite 

 full-grown, as the condition of the epiphyses showed. 



The principal dimensions were : — 



1 Flower, Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. viii. pi. i. ; Iturie, Journ. Anat. Phys. (Nov. 1870) vol. v. pi. v. ; Copo, 

 Proc. A. N. S. Philadelphia, 1876, pi. iii. 



