DELPHINID& 



265 



river Thames, having been seen as high up as Richmond ; it has 

 also been observed in the Seine at Neuilly, near Paris. It frequents 

 the Scandinavian coasts, entering the Baltic in the summer ; and 

 is found as far north as Baffin's Bay, and as far west as the coasts 

 of the United States. Southward its range is more limited than 

 that of the Common Dolphin, as, though very common on the 

 Atlantic coasts of France, it rarely enters the Mediterranean. 



It feeds on fish, such as mackerel, pilchards, and herrings, of 

 which it devours large quantities, and, following the shoals, is often 

 caught by fishermen in the nets along with its prey. In former 

 times it was a common and esteemed article of food in England and 

 in France, but is now rarely if ever eaten, being commercially 

 valuable when caught only for the oil obtained from its blubber. 

 Its skin is sometimes used for leather and boot- thongs, but 

 the so-called "porpoise hides" are generally obtained from the 

 Beluga. 



A closely similar if not identical species from the American 

 coast of the North Pacific has been described under the name of 

 Phoccena vomerina, and another from the mouth of the Rio de la 

 Plata as P. spinipennis. 



The stomach of the Porpoise (Fig. 94) may be taken as a typical 

 example of this 

 organ in the Ceta- 

 cea. The first and 

 by far the largest 

 compartment (b) 

 may be regarded 

 as a kind of crop, 

 or dilatation of 

 the large oeso- 

 phagus (a). It is 

 lined by a thick 

 white epithelium, 

 which ceases 

 abruptly at the 

 entrance into the 

 next cavity. It 

 corresponds to 

 the cardiac com- 

 partment of the 

 stomach in the 

 Ungulates and 

 certain Rodents ; 

 but, although its 

 walls do not appear to contain peptic glands, its contents undergo 

 partial digestion probably caused by the regurgitation into it 



FIG. 94. Diagrammatic section of the stomach of the Porpoise, 

 a, (Esophagus ; 6, left, or cardiac, compartment ; c, middle compart- 

 ment ; d and e, the two divisions of the right, or pyloric, compart- 

 ment ; /, pylorus ; g, duodenum, dilated at its commencement ; h, 

 biliary duct. 



