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Fishes. 



THE POKPOISE. (Phoccena vulgaris.) 



THE PORPOISE is one of the cetacea, and nearly allied to 

 the dolphin, but it has not the beaked snout of that 

 animal. The length of the Poi poise, from the lip of the 

 snout to the end of the tail, is from four to eight feet, 

 and its girth about two feet and a half. The figure of 

 the whole body is conical ; the colour of the back is 

 deep blue, inclining to shining black; the sides are 

 grey, becoming white below. The tail is crescent- 

 shaped. There are only three fins, one on the back, 

 and one on each shoulder. The eyes are very small. 

 When the flesh is cut up, it looks very much like pork ; 

 but although it was once considered a sumptuous article 

 of food, and is said to have been occasionally introduced 

 at the tables of the old English nobility, it certainly has 

 a disagreeable flavour. Porpoises live on small fish, and 

 appear generally in large shoals, particularly in the 

 mackerel and herring seasons, at which time they do 

 very great damage to fishermen, by breaking and destroy- 

 ing the nets to get at their prey. Their motion in the 

 water is a kind of circular leap ; they dive deep, but 

 soon again rise up in order to breathe. They are so 

 eager in the pursuit of their prey, that they sometimes 

 ascend lai'ge rivers, and have even been seen above West- 





