LETTER LIV. 



of three or four feet long, in round lumps of from one 

 to fifteen pounds \yeight. The largest ever seen of 

 these weighed twenty pounds. This substance is not 

 found in all parts of this species, but only in the oldest 

 and the strongest. The evident utility of the former, 

 and the real or imaginary virtues of the latter of these 

 drugs, have rendered the spermaceti whale an object 

 of considerable importance in the commercial sys- 

 tem. 



THE GRAMPUS, THE D0LPHIN, AND THE PORPOISE, 



seem all to belong to the same genus; for their cha- 

 racteristic distinctions are not very considerable, and 

 their 'general history appears to be the same. The 

 grampus, which is the largest of the three, seldom ex- 

 ceeds twenty feet in length, and its head is remarka- 

 bly flat. The porpoise very much resembles the for- 

 mer in shape, except that its snout is more like that 

 of a hog, and the whole length of. this fish seldom ex- 

 ceeds eight feet. The dolphin likewise bears a strik- 

 ing similitude to both, except that its snout is longer 

 and more pointed. All these fishes have dorsal fins, 

 and large heads, and they seem perfectly to agree in 

 their appetites and habits, being equally voracious 

 and active. 



The extraordinary agility of these animals renders 

 their capture extremely difficult. They seldom re- 

 main a moment-above water; bu( their rapacious spi- 

 rit of depredation sometimes exposes them to danger, 

 and a shoal of herrings often allures them out of their 

 depth. In these cases the voracious animal continues 

 to flounce about in the shallows until the returning 

 tide comes to its relief. All this tribe, and particu- 

 larly the dolphin, aie not less swift than destructive; 

 and no iish whatever ;_ juld escape them, but from the 

 awkward position of the mouth, which is placed al- 

 most under the head. With this disadvantage, their 

 Depredations are so great, that they have justly been 

 sailed the plunderers of the ocean. \Ve have, how- 

 ever, already observed, that the tyranny which they 

 exercise over a great part 4>f the inhabitants of the 



