THE COMMON DOLPHIN. 243 



navigate the waters of the ocean in more or less 

 numerous troops, and their vigorous springs and 

 rapid natation, which is daily observed by voyagers, 

 has long made them famous. The Common Dol- 

 phin has long been peculiarly signalized for these 

 qualities, which however it enjoys only in com- 

 mon with the larger number of its congeners, and 

 on these points it does not merit any particular dis- 

 tinction. To swim with the rapidity of an arrow, 

 to shoot ahead of vessels which are scudding before 

 the breeze, to spring out of the water, and over the 

 waves, are qualifications possessed alike by all the 

 smaller Cetacea which live in troops in the ocean. 



It may serve to exhibit the change of tastes 

 produced by modern refinement, to mention, that 

 Dr. Caius, the celebrated founder of the College at 

 Cambridge which bears his name, records that a 

 Dolphin taken in his time was thought a fit and 

 worthy present to the Duke of Norfolk, who again 

 distributed part of it among his friends; it was 

 roasted and eaten with porpoise sauce* 



The next Dolphin we present to the notice of the 

 reader is that of the Benedictin Peraetty 



