the Camaroon river, where it is extremely rare. The nostrils (blow-hole) are prolonged into a snout-like process, a fact which is of interest in connexion with the assertion that in Balaenoptera the blow-hole is puffed out during spouting. What is temporary in the Rorqual appears to be permanent in the Sotalia. More remarkable still, perhaps, is the assertion that it is a vegetable-feeding Dolphin. This is not a mere assertion except that it may not apply universally; for in the stomach of a specimen nothing but vegetable débris was found. But in the stomachs of other Whales (e.g. Rhachianectes) vegetable matter has also been found, which may perhaps have been taken in accidentally with the food.
Steno comes near Sotalia, and Dr. Blanford has transferred to it (under the one name of Steno perniger) the two species, Sotalia gadamu and Sotalia lentiginosa. It is, however, to be distinguished from Sotalia by the following characters:—Teeth large and few, twenty to twenty-seven on each side of each jaw, with furrowed surfaces to crowns. Vertebrae C 7, D 12 or 13, L 15, Ca 30 to 32. Pterygoids in contact. There are but two species apparently (not counting Dr. Blanford's).
Tursiops is not a very easily definable genus. These are its chief features:—Teeth large, twenty-two to twenty-six in number in each half of each jaw. Vertebral formula C 7, D 12 or 13, L 16 or 17, Ca 27. Pterygoids in contact. Beak distinct. Some five species are allowed; but it seems to be difficult to differentiate the others from Tursiops tursio. This, the best-known form, is quite or nearly world-wide in range, and occurs, though not abundantly, on our own coasts. Mr. True has observed that the eyelids of this Whale, which is largely hunted on the American coast, are as mobile as those of a terrestrial mammal. The name "tursio" is derived from Pliny. Belon would also derive from this word the French vernacular "marsouin." The latter term is sometimes regarded as a corruption of "Meerschwein," but it would seem to be more probably derivable from "marinum suem," from the Latin direct. T. tursio has the back black to lead-colour; the under parts white. In the reputed species, T. abusalam, from the Red Sea, the back is a dark sea-green. T. tursio reaches a length of 12 feet, but is more usually smaller.
The genus Tursio must be carefully distinguished from
