DELPHINID& 263 



American coast as the river St. Lawrence, which it ascends for a 

 considerable distance. On rare occasions it has been seen on the 

 coast of Scotland. 



Eemains of a Cetacean from the Lower Pliocene of Tuscany have 

 been referred by Brandt to this genus under the name D. brocchii. 



In all the remaining genera of Delphinidce the cervical region of 

 the vertebral column is very short, and the first two, and usually 

 more, of the vertebrae are firmly united. 



Phoccena. 1 Teeth f f, small, occupying nearly the whole length 

 of the rostrum, with compressed, spade -shaped crowns, separated 

 from the root by a constricted 

 neck (Fig. 92). Kostrum rather 

 shorter than the cranium 

 proper, broad at the base and 

 tapering towards the apex. 

 Premaxillae raised into tuber- 

 osities in front of the nares. 

 The frontal bones forming a , 



FIG. 92. Teeth of Porpoise. Twice natural size. 



somewhat square, elevated pro- 

 tuberance in the middle line of the skull behind the nares, rising 

 altogether above the flattened nasals. Pterygoids very small, 

 and widely separated in the middle line. Symphysis of mandible 

 very short. Vertebrae : C 7, D 13, L 14, C 31 ; total 65 (subject 

 to slight individual variations). First to sixth cervical vertebrae, 

 and sometimes the seventh also, coalesced. Manus of moderate 

 size, oval, slightly falcate ; second and third digits nearly equal in 

 length ; fourth and fifth well developed, but shorter. Dorsal fin 

 near the middle of the back, triangular ; its height considerably less 

 than the length of the base ; its anterior edge frequently furnished 

 with one or more rows of conical horny tubercles. 



The common Porpoise (Fig. 93), P. communis, is the best known 

 of British Cetaceans. The word Porpoise (sometimes spelled Porpus 

 and Porpesse) is apparently derived from the French pore and 

 poisson, or the Italian porco and pesce, and thus corresponds with 

 some of the English vernacular appellations, " hog-fish," " sea-hog," 

 "herring-hog," and the German Meerschwein, whence the usual modern 

 French name of the animal, marsouin. " Porpoise " is commonly used 

 by sailors to designate all the smaller Cetaceans, especially those 

 numerous species which naturalists call "Dolphins "; but in scientific 

 language it is restricted to the genus Phocana of Cuvier, of which the 

 Porpoise of the British seas, Phoccena communis, Cuvier (Delphimts 

 phoccena, Linnaeus), is the type. 



The Common Porpoise, when full grown, attains a length of 5 

 feet or a little more. The dimensions of an adult female specimen 

 from the English Channel were as follows : length in straight line 

 1 Cuvier, Regne Animal, vol. i. p. 279 (1817). 



