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 Delphmorhynci, 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 Inias, 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 phocaense 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. f P. 99. 
