Chap. 7.] DOLPHINS. 3G9 



of these animals respire ^*^ through vent-holes, which commu- 

 nicate with the lungs ; in the balsena they are on the fore- 

 head,^^ and in the dolphin on the back. Sea-calves, too, which 

 we call '^phocse,'*^' breathe and sleep upon dry land — sea- 

 tortoises also,^^ of which we shall have more to say hereafter. 



CHAP. 7. (8.) DOLPHINS. 



The swiftest^^ not only of the sea animals, but of aU animals 

 whatever, is the dolphin.^ He is more rapid in his move- 



^ Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 5. 



^^ Cuvier remarks, that these nostrils, or vent-holes, are placed some- 

 what further back on the head in the dolphin than in the whale ; but at 

 the same time they cannot be said to be situate on the back of the animal. 

 ^2 Or "seals." They will be fui-ther mentioned in c. 15 of the present 

 Book. 

 ^3 Or '* turtles," which are more fully described in c. 21 of this Book. 

 ^^ Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 74. 



55 Cuvier remarks, that in the present Chapter there is a confusion of the 

 peculiarities of two different animals, and refers the reader to his Note on 

 B. viii. c. 38, which, so far as it has not been set forth, is to the follow- 

 ing effect : — "I may here remark, that Pliny speaks on several occasions 

 of dolphins with spines or stings on the back, although at other times he 

 is found to give that name to the same cetaceous animal which is so deno- 

 minated by us. Thus, in his story in B. ix. c. 8, of the friendship con- 

 ceived by a dolphin in Lake Lucrinus for a child at Baiae, he takes care to 

 remark that the dolphin, when taking the child on his back, concealed his 

 spines beneath liis dorsal fin. I am of opinion, however, that I have re- 

 cognized the fish which Seneca, Pliny, and even Aristotle have sometimes 

 confounded with the real dolphin, apparently because it had received that 

 name from certain fishermen, and these are my reasons for forming this 

 conclusion. In c. 7 of the Ninth Book, Pliny mingles with many facts that 

 really do belong to the real dolphin, one trait which is quite foreign to it. 

 * It is so swift,' says he, ' that were it not for the fact that its mouth is 

 situate much heneath its muzzle, almost, indeed, in the middle of its belly, 

 not a fish would be able to escape its pui'suit : in consequence of this, it 

 can only seize its prey by turning on its back.' This, it must be observed, 

 is not one of those mistakes which we are to put down to Pliny's o^va ac- 

 count, and of which he has so many ; for we find Aristotle as well, who has 

 iO perfectly known and described the ordinary dolphin, attributing a mouth 

 similarly situate to the dolphin and the cartilaginous animals. This fact, 

 ^vhich is totally false as regards the real dolphin, is, in aU probability, ap- 

 Dlicable to the alleged dolphin, whose back is mentioned as being armed 

 svith spines. These three characteristics, a mouth situate very far be- 

 leath the nose, spines on the back, and power and swiftness sufficient to 

 iuable it to fight the crocodile, are only to be found united in certain of 

 -he genus ' Squalus,' such as the 'Squalus centrina,' and the ' Squalus 

 ;pinax ' of Linnaeus." 



VOL. II. B B 



