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Show 128 ON DOLPHINS FROM TRAVANCORE, [Feb. 21, have appeared, and that in the other some may have been lost. In any case, the difference is not very great or important. That a North-Pacific Dolphin should be met with on the coasts of India is little, if at all, more improbable than the occurrence there of an Australian form (T. ccitcdania). Accordingly (till evidence to the contrary be forthcoming) I propose to regard the specimen represented in Plate X III. fig. 1 as T. gilli. If I am right in the foregoing identifications (and the difficulty of the subject is so great that every determination must be regarded as more or less provisional), we shall have the following external characters of the definable species of Tursiops :-- 1. Tursiops tursio. European Sea,s *. Size large : 9 ft. 6 in. Upper surface blackish. Under-parts white and unspotted. 2. Tursiops abusalam. Red Sea and Indian Ocean. Size smaller : 7 ft. in. (type), 6 ft. 11 in. (India). Upper surface dark greenish. Under-parts whitish and spotted with green in adult; whitish in young. 3. Tursiops ccitcdania. N. Australia to Indian Ocean. Syn. T. fergusoni. Size about the same as last: 7 ft. 8 in. (type), 7 ft. 4.-} in. (India). Upper surface dark slate. Under-parts yellowish t, flecked with lead-colour. 4. Tursiops gilli. 1ST. Pacific to Indian Ocean. Size, Indian specimen, 6 ft. 8 in. Whole surface blackish, tending to lighten slightly on the under-parts, with a tinge of reddish in Indian specimens. Whether or no I am right in any or all of these identifications, the coloured figures of the Trevandrum specimens cannot fail to be of great value in future researches on the subject; and I venture to hope that the authorities of the Trevandrum Museum will continue their excellent practice of sketching and preserving every Dolphin that may come to hand. E X P L AN A T IO N OF PLATE X I I I . Fig-. 1. Tursiops gilli (?). Adult. 2. Tursiops abusalam (?). Immature. Both specimens from the Trevandrum district. * Till further evidence, I should doubt the occurrence of this species in the Indian Ocean. f In the type the under-parts are said to be whitish; if the orange tint of the Trevandrum specimens is a specific character, then the name T. fergusoni v. ill be available for the Indian form. |