espiratory act is so rapid that it requires a very expert marksman
to take aim and fire before the animal disappears.

Dr. Anderson says: "I have observed some of them disporting
themselves in a way that has never yet been recorded of _Cetacea_,
as far as I am aware. They swam with a rolling motion near the surface,
with their heads half out of the water, and every now and then nearly
fully exposed, when they ejected great volumes of water out of their
mouths--generally straight before them; but sometimes nearly
vertically. The sight of this curious habit at once recalled to me
an incident in my voyage up the river, when I had been quite baffled
to explain an exactly similar appearance seen at a distance, so that
this remarkable habit would appear to be not uncommonly manifested.
On one occasion I noticed an individual standing upright in the water,
so much so that one-half of its pectoral fins was exposed, producing
the appearance against the background as if the animal was supported
on its flippers. It suddenly disappeared, and again, a little in
advance of its former position, it bobbed up in the same attitude,
and this it frequently repeated. The Shan boatmen who were with me
seemed to connect these curious movements with the season--spring--in
which the dolphins breed."

A similar thing has been noticed in the case of marine dolphins off
the coast of Ceylon by Mr. E. W. H. Holdsworth, whose observations
confirm the opinion of the Shan boatmen. (See 'P. Z. S.' 1872, p.
586.)

"The food of the Irrawady dolphin is apparently exclusively fish.
The fishermen believe that the dolphin purposely draws fish to their
nets, and each fishing village has its particular guardian dolphin,
which receives a name common to all the fellows of his school, and
it is this supposition that makes it so difficult to obtain specimens
of this cetacean. Colonel Sladen has told me that suits are not
unfrequently brought into the native courts to recover a share in
the capture of fish in which a plaintiff's dolphin has been held to
have filled the nets of a rival fisherman" (_Anderson_). This reminds
me that in the surveying voyage of the _Herald_, as related by Mr.
H. Lee, the natives of Moreton Bay entreated the seamen not to shoot
their tame porpoises, which helped them in their fishing.

_GENUS DELPHINUS--THE MARINE DOLPHINS_.

These are characterised by a convex forehead, with a protruding
muzzle which forms a sort of beak; they ha