FISH on FLESH 329 



shows the long fin on his back, and tliis violent effort is 

 raacle to allow him to get his nose sufliciently out of 

 water to breathe. Porpoises are of very little use to 

 man, which accounts for the numbers constantly seen. 

 They often do positive harm in our home waters by eat- 

 ing quantities of fish that travel in schools, like harbor 

 blues, herring, menhaden, etc. They are said to be 

 good fighters and, when in a herd, able to surround quite 

 large prey and drive it in any direction they choose. 

 The young are curious creatures, looking, when a few 

 days old, like black bottles about two feet long. Por- 

 poises very seldom spring wholly from the water like 

 Dolphins, though they have been known to do so, even 

 leaping over boats when badly frightened. 



" Of Dolphins there are many species, found in all 

 salt waters, and ranging in size from five to fifteen feet. 

 They seem to be made for beauty rather than use, and 

 are as swift as the Porpoises are clumsy. We hear of 

 them everywhere, in mid-ocean chasing fishes or each 

 other with dash and vigor, or sporting and leaping from 

 the water in a spirit of pure fun. They seem to be the 

 geutlemen-of-leisure of the ocean, a sort of literary fish 

 playing a much more important part in poetry and his- 

 tory than in reports of the fishing industries. When is 

 old Neptune ever pictured as taking a ride through his 

 watery kingdom armed with his trident, that he is not 

 driving Dolphins ? When he is carved in stone to play 

 king and sit beside a fountain, who are his gentlemen- 

 in-waiting? Dolphins. If a Prince in a fairy tale wishes 

 to send a magic ring to his Princess, imprisoned in a coral 

 cave, who but a Dolphin does he choose to carr}' it ? 



"Yes, Dodo, I know the molasses is ready to pull. 



