238 THE DOLPHIN. 



viz. that every distinct species has its distinct lo- 

 cality, and this circumscribed mthin rather narrow 

 limits. It is more difficult of course to ascertain the 

 truth of tliis proposition as it regards the inhabitants 

 of the M^ater than of the land, and yet many facts 

 go to establish its truth with regard to the Cetacea. 

 Much, however, remains to be done on this and 

 other points, ere we anive at a perfect natui-al 

 history of the order. All that we can attempt in 

 this place, is to offer some remarks on the species 

 which we have exhibited in the plates. 



THE COMMON DOLPHIN. 

 PLATE XXHL 



Delphinus Delphis, Linn.^ Bon.^ Lacepede, Cuvier, &c. — Oie de 

 Mer, Goose of the Sea. 



This animal is perhaps better knoAMi as the ficti- 

 tious creature of unrestrained imagination and of 

 heroic poetry, than the sober Goose of the Sea. It 

 is uniformly considered as the Dolphin of antiquity ; 

 the original whence were produced those fantastic 

 beings, endowed with all those extraordinary at- 

 tributes and charms with which it was clothed. It 

 is the Hieros Ichthys^ or Sacred Fish of the Greeks, 

 to which they originally paid divine honours, and 

 which they afterwards embellished with all the 

 illusions of unbridled fancy. It was also sacred to 

 their god Apollo ; the reason assigned for which is, 

 that when Apollo appeared to the Cretans, and 

 obliged them to settle on the coast of Delphis, 



