DOLPHINS 255 



Delphinus delpkis, Linnaeus.* Length, 7 feet 5 in. 

 Form slender. Forehead sloping gradually. Dorsal 

 fin narrow. Teeth, 46-50. (Fig. 32.) 



This is the "Dolphin" par excellence, the dolphin 

 of the ancients. It is common, among other places, 

 in the Mediterranean ; hence its frequent observation. 

 But it is perhaps hardly necessary to mention the 

 fact it has been often confounded with the fish 

 Coryphesna ; hence the legends as to its dying colours 

 and to many of its more purely fish-like attributes. 

 On the other hand, regarding it as a fish, the ancients 

 were impressed by its unfish-like intelligence. Upon 

 this confusion were doubtless based the legend of 

 Arion and the Dolphin and other similar stories. 

 Scaliger speaks of it as " nobilissimus Cetaceorum." 



As a matter of fact the colours of this animal are 

 unusually variegated for a Cetacean, and liable to 

 much variation (hence the multitude of "species"). 

 The best figure illustrating these hues is contained 

 in a memoir by Sir William Flower, f The usual 

 black of the dorsal and white of the ventral surface 

 is supplemented by two lateral areas of a fulvous 

 or greyish tinge ; a black or greenish band extends 

 from the lower jaw to the base of the pectoral fin ; 

 there is a ring of black round the eye ; one or two 

 bands of greyish or greenish traverse the light colour 

 of the lower part of the sides, j 



* Syst. Nat., loth ed., p. 77. 

 t Trans. Zoo/. Soc., vol. xi., p. I. 



+ Several colour variations are figured by Fischer, Act. Soc. Linn. 

 Bordeaux, 1881, 



