103 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 
turalists of antiquity, are laughed at even by the old women of 
-our times. The dolphin is in no respects superior to the other 
cetaceans; his musical taste is as low as zero, and if, like the 
bonito and albacore, he follows a ship for days together, it is 
most surely not out of affection for man, but on account of the 
offal that is thrown overboard. But do not many human 
friendships repose on similar selfish motives ? 
The Porpoise, (Delphinus Phocewna) which only attains a 
The Porpoise. 
length of five or six feet, and seems to be the smallest of all 
cetaceans, is frequently confounded with the dolphin. It is at 
home in the whole Northern Atlantic, in the Mediterranean, and 
the Euxine. While the dolphin prefers the high sea, the por- 
poise loves tranquil bays and cliff-sheltered shores, and often 
swims up the rivers, so that individuals have been caught in 
the Elbe and Seine as high up as Dessau and Paris. The 
porpoise is a no less excellent swimmer than the dolphin, 
making at least fifteen miles an hour. His rapidity and sharp 
teeth render him a most dangerous enemy to all the lesser fry 
ef the ocean, whose sole refuge lies in the shallowest waters. 
When he rises to the surface to draw breath, the back only 
‘appears, the head and tail are kept under water. At the en- 
trance of harbours, where he is frequently seen gambolling, his 
undulatory or leaping movements, now rising with a grunt, 
now sinking to reappear again at some distance, afford au enter- 
taining spectacle. 
A much more formidable animal,the largest of the whole dolphin 
tribe, is theravenous Grampus, (Delphinus Orca,) which measures 
no less than twenty-five feet in length, and twelve or thirteen in 
girth. The upper part of the body is black, the lower white: 
the dorsal fin rises in the shape of a cone, to the height of 
three feet or more. 
All naturalists agree in describing the grampus as the most 
voracious of the dolphin family. Its ordinary food is the seal 
