XII STORIES OF THE DOLPHIN 377 
pterygoids are short, and there are thirty-two teeth in each half 
of each jaw. 
Feresia is known from two skulls which are provided with 
ten to twelve teeth in each half of each jaw. It is intermediate 
between Globicephalus, Grampus, and Lagenorhynchus, according 
to Sir W. Flower. 
The genus Delphinus contains the Dolphin, D. delphis.' The 
genus may be characterised as follows:— Teeth small and 
numerous, forty-seven to sixty-five. Vertebral formula C 7, 
DD t4-or 15,21 or 22):Ca 30 to 32. “The atlas and axis are 
fused, the rest free. The palatal border of the maxillae is 
deeply grooved. The fins are falcate; the beak long and distinct. 
The Common Dolphin of the Mediterranean shows so many 
variations of colour, slight differences in the proportions of the 
bones of the skull, and in the number of the teeth, that it has 
been divided up into at least seventeen “species.” But M. 
Fischer, who has studied many of these forms, does not admit 
them, and most students of this group of mammals follow him in 
the matter. The Dolphin is and has been the most familiar of 
Cetaceans ; in consequence it has accumulated much anecdote of 
a mythical character. The extreme intelligence and goodwill 
towards man assigned to this creature by the ancients are possibly 
due to the anomaly of a creature ostensibly a fish showing many 
of the characters of higher animals. Its unfishlike intelligence 
baffled the early observers, who at once endowed it with especi- 
ally advanced attributes. Hence the stories of Arion and others. 
The leaping of the Dolphin out of the water is exemplified in 
many Mediterranean coins and coats of arms; the heraldic 
dolphin is represented with an arched back as in leaping. The 
Dolphin reaches a length of some 7 feet, and appears to be 
world-wide in range. Possibly distinct is D. longirostris, 
characterised, as the name denotes, by the very long beak; it 
has also more teeth and is a native of Malabar. D. roseiventris 
again may be a third species of Delphinus. It comes from 
Torres Straits, and has the under parts rosy in colour. 
The genus Prodelphinus has, like Delphinus, a distinct: beak ; 
but it has not the grooved maxillaries. . No other character of 
importance appears to separate it from Delphinus. 
' See Actes Soc. Linn. Bordeaux, 1881; and for another figure, also coloured, 
Flower, in Trans. Zool. Soc. xi. 1880, pl. i. 
