THE ORDER CETACEA. 173 



According to the testimony of Fabricius, in his Fauna 

 Grbenlandica, the D. Phoceana or Porpoise constantly 

 swims in a curved posture, depressing very considerably 

 both head and tail during that action. The period of 

 gestation both in the porpoise and dolphin, according to 

 Anderson, is six months, but Aristotle and Cuvier say 

 it continues for ten months, and the female rarely brings 

 forth more than one at a birth. She suckles her young 

 with the utmost care, carrying it under the pectoral fins, 

 which answer the purpose of arms : while the little one 

 is yet feeble, she exercises it in swimming, sports with 

 it, defends it with the utmost intrepidity until it can do 

 without her cares. Their young grow rapidly ; in ten 

 years they attain their utmost length. 



Porpoises are observed to assemble occasionally in 

 vast numbers and to pursue shoals of herrings, mackerel, 

 and other fish, which they drive into the bays with con- 

 siderable velocity. 



This animal was once considered as a sumptuous 

 article of food, and is said to have been occasionally in- 

 troduced at the tables of old English nobility ; and this 

 so lately as the time of Queen Elizabeth. It was eaten 

 with a sauce composed of crumbs of fine bread with 

 sugar and vinegar. However, it is now generally neg- 

 lected even by sailors. 



Notwithstanding the quickness with which they dis- 

 appear under the water, numbers of them fall victims to 

 the murderous skill of the fishermen. They have an- 

 other enemy to fear not less redoubtable, one of their 



water, but from the quickness of their enemies it appeared almost impos- 

 sible that they could escape." The editor of the Dundee Paper considers 

 the porpoises highly destructive to the Salmon Fishery. 



