68 CORYPH.ENID.E. 



establisliment of any group or genus in particular are not to be sought 

 out in the aberrant or transitional outskirts of that group ; but in the 

 paucity, the indistinctness, or the insufficiency of the characters exhibited 

 by its normal type or centre. It is an error in reasoning to do so, similar 

 to that which would confound in language the words " land*" and " sea," be- 

 cause it is not possible, upon a flat, indented shore, to mark by any straight 

 fixed line the limits of the oscillating tides. It is strange that, even at 

 this day, naturalists should often seem forgetful of so palpable a truth ; 

 and merge so frequently, what they admit in theory, — the mere practical 

 use and nature of their systems. 



The genera which it is proposed to associate under the name of Cory- 

 phanidce, or the Dolphin-tribe, are Coryphana, L. Cuv. ; Lampugns, 

 Cuv. ; Pompilus, Rond. (Ceiitroloplms, Lac. ; Leirus, nob.) ; Seserinus, 

 Cuv.; Apolectus, Cuv, and Val. ; Kurtus, Bloch.^*; Stromateus, L. ; 

 Pepriliis, Cuv. (^Rhombiis, Lac. Val.) ; Lampris, Retz ; 3Iene, hacf ; 

 Brama, Bl. j ; Pteraclis, Gron, ; Asteroderma, Bon. (Diana, Risso) ; 

 and Luvarus, Raf. (Ausonia, Risso) ; which brings the series round again 

 to Coryphana. The group, thus constituted circularly, touches, and at 

 the point of contact blends through Scorpis into the Chfclodontidtr : whilst 

 it affords precisely analogous phases of form, from elongated to deep and 

 short, observable in the true ScomhridfE. 



The Dorados or Dolphins, as they have been called in modern times, 

 which are the typical fishes of this group, have, for the Iqst two centuries, 

 been celebrated amongst voyagers and sailors for the beauty of the 

 changing iridescent tints, which pass in rapid alternation over the body 

 of the animal in its expiring convulsions. The name of Dolphin ap- 

 pears to have been first applied to these fishes by the Dutch ; very erro- 

 neously, if intended to indicate their identity with the Dolphin (hi\(p]g) 

 of the ancients ; which is clearly described by Aristotle § as a cetace- 

 ous animal, and is undoubtedly the Delphinus deljjhis, L. ; distin- 

 guished from the Porpess, the " Bouto," or, when young, " Tunina" 

 of Madeira (D. phocana, L.), by its long, pointed, beak-like muz- 

 zle. By naturalists they have more accurately been supposed to repre- 



* This genus, so remarkable for the structure of the ribs, and externally for the short dorsal fin, 

 appears analogous to the genus Pemplwris, placed by Cuvier in Ckwtodotitu/a, but which is rather a 

 Percidous genus, near Pomatomus, Risso, and at least nearer allied to Beryddm than to C'lusiodon- 

 tidcB ; although I conceive more so in the way of analogy than of true affinity. 



+ I cannot any longer follow Cuvier in associating these two genera (Lampris and Mcnc) with 

 Zeus. X Placed by Cuvier in Ckaiodontidce. 



§ Aristotle's AsXipij was cetaceous and viviparous (Hist. A. §. 1 ; ^. 2 ; Z. /a. 1) ; mammiferous 

 and lactiferous, or giving suck (B. ^. 1) ; all four mentioned together (r. is. 1) : vocal, pulmonife- 

 rous, and tracheiferous (A. ^. 4), has a breathing hole or tube (avXos), sleeps with it above the surface 

 of the water, and snores (A. i. .5) ; all the preceding comi)rehcnsively (Z. la. 1, 2) ; difters from 

 (puKDiitiit, the Porpess (Z. ta. 1) ; breatlies air (©. /5. 3) ; has the mouth beneath (6. S. 4) ; its gen- 

 tleness and habits (I. Xs). — (Arist. Hist. Schneid.) 



