THE ORDER CETACEA. 175 



misrepresented both by painters and sculptors. The 

 recurved tail, the monstrous head with pendant lips, 

 and eyes protected by enormous brows, which we see in 

 the usual painted and engraved figures of a dolphin, are 

 mere creatures of imagination. 



The length of this species is frequently nine or ten 

 feet, and its body about two feet at its thickest part, 

 which is at the insertion of the pectoral fins, from which 

 the body gradually diminishes towards the head and tail, 

 and thus assumes an oval form, slender however in pro- 

 portion to its length. The head enlarges at the top like 

 that of the porpoise ; but in this animal it diminishes in 

 thickness, and ends in a muzzle, flattened something like 

 the beak of a bird, whence the origin of Belon's name of 

 Oye cle Mer, or sea goose ; but there is a transverse fold 

 of the skin across the upper part of the snout. The 

 jaws are of equal length, and furnished with a row of 

 cylindrical teeth, a little pointed at one end, and project- 

 ing near one inch and a half above the gum. It would 

 appear that the number of teeth varies according to the 

 age and sex. Klein has counted ninety-six in the upper 

 jaw and ninety in the lower. Mr. Pennant has, on the 

 contrary, mentioned that he saw nineteen teeth in the 

 latter, and twenty-one teeth in the former, by which I 

 presume he means on one side. Other zoologists have 

 observed forty-seven teeth in each jaw. In a specimen 

 which in 1826 was exhibited in the streets of London, 

 by a penny showman, I counted forty-six. This speci- 

 men was captured on the coast of Sussex, and measured 

 seven feet nine inches in length. 



The mouth of the dolphin is very wide, reaching al- 

 most to the insertion of the head. The dorsal fin is 

 high, and placed rather nearer the tail, being curved back- 

 wards at its extremity, than the head j the swimming- 



