186 DR. S. V. HARMER ON SOME MARKINGS ON A DOLPHIN. 
certain statements by MM. J. Eichard and H. Neuville,* on the 
skin-markings of Grampus griseus and Delphiuus delpliis. 
These authors support a view which they attribute to Captain 
Chaves that the striae and circular marks usually found on the skin of 
Grampus griseus are the results of wounds indicted by Cephalopods. 
M. Chaves is said to have photographed a specimen showing the 
impression on the skin of the series of suckers of a tentacular arm 
of an Architeuthis, besides “ de nombreuses lignes paralleles 
produites probablement par le frottement des cercles corn^s de ces 
ventouses.” He has further pointed out an exact correspondence 
between certain circular marks on a fragment of the skin of the 
same species, and the dimensions and denticulations of the suckers 
of Architeuthis. 
I was at first inclined to ascribe the markings shown in the 
figure to a similar cause, and it appeared to me that the hooks 
on the ends of the tentacular arms of Omjchoteuthis might have 
produced this effect. Although this genus does not occur in our 
own waters, this fact is not a sufficient proof that the scratches 
were not due to this cause, since it is quite possible that this 
particular Dolphin may have come from a great distance. On further 
consideration, however, it appeared improbable that the scratches 
were produced by a Cephalopod. Although the distances between 
successive scratches of one series corresponded well enough with 
that between the hooks of an Omjchoteuthis, the assumption that 
they were due to this animal would necessitate the conclusion that 
the tentacle moved sideways along the skin in producing them. 
It is difficult to see how this movement could be produced with 
sufficient force. If an Omjchoteuthis were to commence to scratch 
a Cetacean, the marks due to the several hooks might at first remain 
separate on the skin, the length of the entire series corresponding 
with the length of the tentacular “ club but the arm could probably 
only pull in the direction of its length, and the series of scratches 
would soon overlap and fuse into a wound corresponding with the 
breadth of the tentacular arm. This in fact is very much what 
appears to have happened in the series of scratches seen in the 
ligure just behind the eye ; but the evidence derived from this 
series is discounted by the fact that the other series show no tendency 
to this arrangement. 
*“Sur quelques Cetaces observes pendant les Campagnes du Yacht 
Princesse-Alice,” Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 1897, pp. 102, 108. 
