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Show 772 MR. E. E. AUSTEN ON A RECENT ZOOLOGICAL [June 16, worth elucidating. The appearance of the pink form as it rises to blow, seen against the pea-soupy background of the waters of the Amazon, is most striking. The Sotcdia is black on the upper half of the body, which is all that I ever managed to see of it. It is stated by Bates (' The Naturalist on the River Amazons,' 6th ed. p. 75) that the natives call the larger species (Inia geoffroyensis) the " Bouto," while they term the smaller one (Sotcdia) the " Tu-cuxi." According to one of our Brazilian pilots, Bates has transposed the native names ; nevertheless I am inclined to think that the pilot himself must have been wrong, as it is difficult to believe that Bates, writing after eleven years' experience of the Amazon, could have made such a blunder. The pilot in question also stated that the large Dolphins (Inia) will attack a man in the water, while the small ones (Sotcdia) will defend him by making an onslaught on the aggressors. If there is any truth in this statement it may be that tbe small Dolphin sometimes attacks the larger one, just as, according to Mr. Hudson (' The Naturalist in La Plata'), the Puma attacks tbe Jaguar whenever he meets him; but personally I never noticed anything of the sort, although I frequently saw the two species in close proximity in tbe same furo. I may add that Bates (' Naturalist on the Amazons,' 6th ed. p. 296) alludes to the number of fables that are told about the large Amazonian Dolphin, though he considers that " it is probable these did not originate with the Indians, but with the Portuguese colonists." The difference between the two species in their method of rising to the surface to blow is very noticeable and, as it seems to me, is not very clearly stated by Bates (op. cit. p. 75). The large black or pink Dolphin (Inia geoffroyensis) thrusts itself horizontally along the top of the water, usually showing the crest of its flat head first, and then nearly the entire length of the back, including the low dorsal fin ; it then dives gently clown head foremost. The small species (Sotalia) arches over out of the water, showing the curve of the back and the dorsal fin. Sir W m . Flower was extremely anxious that I should, if possible, bring home a specimen of Inia geoffroyensis, or iudeed of any one of the Amazonian Dolphins, and accordingly I made many attempts to shoot one but without success. The fishermen cannot be induced to harpoon them, and eventually vre came to the conclusion that the only practicable means of securing a specimen would be to have a couple of big seine nets specially constructed for the purpose and to shoot them across one of the narrow furos, when the Dolphins might easily be captured. In the creeks running out of the Rio Negro below Manaos I found Manatees (Manatus sp. inc.) not uncommon, and on more than one occasion 1 saw one make a tremendous commotion on the top of the water. In one instance the neck of the animal seemed to appear first, and it then turned " head over heels " as it were, and I distinctly saw- the disk-shaped tail strike the water. This liveliness on the part of the Manatee in its natural state is perhaps worth noting, as in captivity it usually appears to be a |
