THE DOLPHIN. 545 
amusement, springing high out of the water and delivering the most terrific blows with 
its tail on the object of its pursuit. For the co-operation of the sword-fish he does not 
youch, but has remarked that the whale does not seek refuge in the ocean depths when 
thus persecuted, but makes short and hurried attempts to dive, seeming to be prevented 
from making its escape by some allied force beneath. 
Apart from the marvellous tales which were once rife concerning the beauty and 
accomplishments of the DoLPHIN, the animal is well worthy of notice, and needs no aid of 
fictitious narrative to enhance its value in the eyes of the naturalist or the observer. 
The Dolphin is remarkable for the enormous number of teeth which stud its mouth, 
no less than forty-seven being found on each side of both jaws, the full complement being 
one hundred and ninety. In the head of one specimen were found fifty teeth on each 
side of each jaw, making a complement of two hundred in all. Between each tooth there 
is a space equal to the width of a single tooth, so that when the animal closes its mouth 
the teeth of both jaws interlock perfectly. All the teeth are sharply pointed and flattened, 
and slightly curved backward, so that the entire apparatus 1s wonderfully adapted for the 
retention of the slippery marine creatures on which the Dolphin feeds. Fish of various 
LEMAN 
DCLPHIN.—Delphinus Delphis. 
kinds form the usual diet of the Dolphin, which especially delights in the flat fishes of 
our coasts, and often prowls about the shoals of herrings and pilchards that periodically 
reach our shores. 
The Dolphin is not a very large animal, measuring, when full grown, from six to ten 
feet in length, seven feet being the usual average. Its colour is black upon the back, and 
silvery-white on the abdomen, while the flanks are greyish-white. There is a peculiar 
satin-like sheen upon the skin when the animal is submerged beneath the water or 
freshly removed from the sea, but which rapidly disappears as the skin becomes dry. The 
beautiful colours which have been said to play about the body of a dying Dolphin are not 
entirely mythical, but belong rightly to one of the fishes, the coryphene, or dorado, which 
is popularly called the Dolphin by sailors. 
The eyes of the Dolphin are small, and are supplied with eyelids ; the pupil of the eye 
is heart-shaped. The ears have but a very minute external aperture, barely admitting an 
ordinary pin, so that its sense of hearing appears to be very limited. 
In former days the flesh of the Dolphin was thought to be a very great luxury, so 
great, indeed, that a Dolphin was considered as a noble present to be made to the Duke of 
Norfolk by Dr. Caius, the well-known founder of the college bearing his name. As the 
1. NN 
