FEEDING 



271 



Figure i§i. Skull of Common Dolphin with the sharp conical teeth of the real fish-eater. 

 {Van Beneden and Gervais, 1880.) 



Dolphin) to sixty-eight (Boutu). The Boutu is, in fact, a most voracious 

 animal which even attacks the notorious pirayas. The teeth of fish-eating 

 dolphins are almost exclusively conical, and generally thin. Porpoises 

 alone have characteristically spatulate crowns (Fig. 152). 



Odontocete teeth are used for capturing prey and not for chewing it, 

 since the prey is generally swallowed whole. For this reason, most dolphins 



Figure i§2. Skull of Porpoise with spatular teeth, {Van Beneden and Gervais, 1880.) 



