the lips, and haul the bleeding monster
underwater; and, should the victim open its mouth, they eat its
tongue." In one instance he relates that a Californian grey whale
and the young one were assaulted; the _Orcas_ killed the latter, and
sprang on the mother, tearing away large pieces of flesh, which they
greedily devoured.

"These brutes have been known to attack a white-painted herring boat,
mistaking it for a beluga; and it is stated that occasionally they
will boldly lay siege to whales killed by the whalers, almost
dragging them perforce under water. Near some of the Pacific sealing
grounds they continually swim about, and swoop off the unwary young;
even the large male sea-lions hastily retreat ashore and give these
monsters a wide berth. The walrus also, with his powerful tusks,
cannot keep the killers at bay, especially if young morses are in
the herd. The cubs on such occasions will mount upon the mother's
back for refuge, clinging for dear life, but the _Orca_, diving,
comes suddenly up with a spiteful thud, and the cub, losing its
balance, falls into the water, when in an instant it is seized by
the remorseless whales." The speed of the killer whale is immense,
as may be supposed when it can overtake the swift dolphins, which
it catches and swallows alive. It has also been seen chasing salmon
up the mouths of rivers.

The genus _Orcella_ seems to come in between the sea and river
dolphins, although _Orcella fluminalis_ of Dr. Anderson is a purely
fluviatile animal, which apparently never goes out to sea.

NO. 258. ORCELLA BREVIROSTRIS.
_The Short-nosed Round-headed River Dolphin_.

HABITAT.--The estuaries of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers.

DESCRIPTION.--"The head is convex from the blow-hole to the upper
lip, but its sides immediately below the angle of the mouth are
somewhat anteriorly convergent, but rounded; the gape posteriorly
has a long upward curve; the eye, which is well developed, is near
the angle at the gape, and in the adult is placed about one inch above
it, with a slightly downward slope; the ear is nearly on the same
level as the angle of the mouth, but is extremely small, crescentic,
and not measuring more than 0.12 inch in diameter. The posterior
margin of the blow-hole is immediately behind the anterior angle of
the eye; the blow-hole is crescentic and unsymmetrical, being more
to the left than to the right side; there are two slight eminences
about one inch behind the blow-ho