Delphinid^. MAMMALIA. ManatidjE. 205 
tinguished from the common dolphin chiefly by the 
projection of the lower jaw beyond the upper. There 
is some reason to believe that the dolphin (D. trunca- 
tus) described by Mr. G. Montague in the third volume 
of the Wernerian Society’s Transactions, is referable to 
this species. This specimen was captured off Totness 
in Devonshire, in the summer of 1814. After the 
animal had been exhibited, the bones were regarded 
as rejectamenta, and thrown into the river Dart. 
Mr. James Cornish, however, subsequently succeeded 
in recovering the skull, the length of which was twenty 
inches and a half. “On each side of the upper jaw,” 
says Mr. Montague, “there are sockets for twenty 
teeth, besides a long depression behind the posterior 
socket.” The under jaw was somewhat longer, and 
contained twenty-three sockets on either side. Such 
of the teeth as were discovered were for the most part 
worn and flat on their crowns. The others, it seems, 
were knocked out, and freely distributed amongst the 
curiosity-loving people of Totness ! 
SOWEEBY’S DOLPHIN {Diodon Soioerbmi), of which 
only a single example has yet appeared, is character- 
ized chiefly by the possession of a. single pair of teeth, 
occupying the lower jaw. It was cast ashore near 
Brodie House, Elginshire, and is thus described by 
Mr. Sowerby, in the first volume of his well-known 
“ British Miscellany”: — “The animal is oblong ; black 
above, nearly white below; sixteen feet long, eleven 
in circumference at the thickest part, with one fin on 
the back; head acuminated; lower jaw blunt, longer 
than the upper, with two short lateral bony teeth; 
upper jaw sharp, let into the lower one by two lateral 
impressions corresponding with the teeth ; opening of 
the mouth, one foot six inches. Under the throat are 
found two diverging furrows, terminating below the 
eyes, which are small, and placed six inches behind 
the mouth. Spiracles lunate, the ends pointing for- 
wards.” The specimen was a male. 
Amongst the many other numerous and interesting 
members of the present family known to exist, we can 
only particularize the following : — 
PERON’S DOLPHIN {Delphinapterus Peronii), RiGiiT- 
WHALE Porpoise, or white-beaked Dolphin. This 
species is found on the southern side of the equator, off 
and between the opposite coasts of Africa and Brazil. 
It is gregarious in its habits, and ruadily distinguished 
by the lustrous white beak, abdomen, and pectoral 
fins, the other parts being quite black. The head is 
pointed and slightly convex, ; the jaws, in different 
examples, are furnished with from thirty - eight to 
forty-two on each side, above and below. 
T HE iniA {Inia Geoffroyii), or Bolivian Dolphin, 
is a very singular animal, having the breathing aper- 
ture placed far backward on a line with the pectoral 
fins. The dorsal fin is small. The lips are deeply 
cleft to beneath the eye ; the auditory meatus being 
likewise unusually large. Mr. Blyth observes that the 
species is also remarkable as “ occurring thousands of 
miles from the sea, appearing to inhabit only the 
remote tributaries of the Amazon, and the elevated 
lakes of Peru. The singular character of possessing 
bristly hairs on the snout has also been observed in 
them when very young. This species has large swim- 
ming paws, and thirty-four teeth on each side, above 
and below, all of them rough, marked with deep and 
interrupted furrows, and of an irregular, mammillary 
shape behind, which is very peculiar. A female speci- 
men measured seven feet long, and the males are 
stated to be double that size ; colour variable, com- 
monly pale blue above, passing into a roseate hue 
beneath. It comes more frequently to the surface than 
the marine species, and is generally met with in troops 
of three or four individuals.” 
THE SOU- SOU {Platanista Gangetiea) or Dolphin 
of the Ganges, is another cetacean of considerable 
interest, frequenting the mouths, and ascending some- 
times high up the rivers. It is readily distinguished 
by its elongated and laterally compressed snout, swollen 
at the extremity from enlargement of the jaws, which 
latter support in front numerous long, conical teeth ; 
there being thirty of these organs on each side, above 
and below. The breathing opening has the form of a 
longitudinal fissure, whilst the upper border’s of the 
maxillary bones are prolonged upwards in a singular 
manner. The eyes are very small, and at first sight 
scarcely discernible. The pectoral flippers are sub- 
triangular, the dorsal fin being placed far back. The 
Sou-Sou attains a length of seven feet. It was origi- 
nally described by Pliny, under the generic title here 
employed. 
Family IV.— MANATIDH5. 
It is a matter of opinion whether it be more correct 
to associate this family with the present order, or with 
the Pachydermata ; for whilst its members appear, 
by external characters and habits, more intimately 
allied with the Cetacea, their internal structure, on 
the other hand, plainly demonstrates a close alliance 
with the latter group. Some have suggested, not 
without reason, that they might almost be treated as a 
separate order ; but, all things considered, it is perhaps 
better, and certainly more convenient, to adopt our 
present allocation. All the members of this family 
are vegetable feeders, and, in consequence, most com- 
monly styled Herbivorous or Phytophagous cetacea. 
In conformity with their algous diet, we find the teeth 
modified so as to secure due mastication of the coarse 
fuel, the molars, when present, being more or less 
flattened on the crown. The intestinal canal attains a 
prodigious length, and in the Rytina is said to measure 
upwards of twenty times the entire length of the animal. 
The stomach is constricted near the centre, and more 
or less complicated by coeca and follicles in the difter- 
ent species. The skin is rather hairy, and the face 
furnished with bristle-like whiskers; but the tail is 
flattened out transversely as in ordinary cetaceans — a 
circumstance very strongly insisted on by those who, 
with ourselves, prefer to retain these animals in the 
present order. The limbs or paddles are furnished 
with claws ; but there is no trace of posterior extremi- 
ties. The nostrils are quite separate, placed in front 
of the abrupt snout, opening near the upper lip. 
The front of the jaws is covered with horny plates. 
The mammae are two in number, and situated below 
the thorax ; and there are from fifteen to nineteen pairs 
