THE COMMON DOLPHIN. 241 



for swimming, as may be ^eeo in the Plate, to which 

 we refer in lieu of many dry details. The pectoral 

 is oval and placed very low; the tail is large and 

 powerful. Its tints, though not gay, are attractive. 

 It is black on the back, greyish on the flanks, and 

 white underneath, with a peculiar and satiny glisten- 

 ing when in, or newly taken out of the water, which 

 is striking and beautiful. It may be well, however, 

 here to remark, that " the Dolphin with its many 

 dying colours" mentioned in many books, and sung 

 by modern poets, is not this but quite another animal, 

 belonging to a different class of the animal king- 

 dom; it is a true fish, the beautifully coloured 

 Coryphosna Hippuris^ the Dorado of the Portu- 

 guese, and it would be well if its popular name 

 were altogether dropped. The eyes of the true Dol- 

 phin are rather small, and supplied with eye-lids. 

 The pupil is in the form of a heart. Mr. Rapp 

 lias carefully described the lachrymal gland, which 

 Mr. Hunter had previously pointed out. The smell 

 must be very imperfect, since the same anatomist 

 could find no yestiges of the olfactory nerve, and 

 there was only one small foramen in the ethmoidal 

 plate. The meatus auditorius is apparent, though 

 very small. The jaws are equal, and the teeth 



mount up to ^-|? = one hundred and eighty-eight; 



they are pointed, slender, and somewhat curved, 

 at equal distances from each other, and when the 

 mouth is shut they lock into one another. There are 

 seren cervical* twelve dorsal, and fifty-two lumbar 



