WHALES AND MERMAIDS 331 



did so under the form of a dolphin. Therefore it was 

 that at his world-renowned oracle of Delphi he was 

 worshipped under the symbol of that cetacean. It was 

 also credited with a warm attachment to mankind, 

 readily lending its aid in cases of shipwreck and disasters 

 of various kinds. Thus Phalantus, the founder of 

 Tarentum, when wrecked on the Italian coast, was, we 

 are told, carried to shore by a dolphin. No doubt 

 many readers also know Ovid's tale about the musician 

 Arion, who, when about to be thrown overboard by 

 sailors who coveted his possessions, begged that he might 

 be permitted to play a last melody, which attracted 

 admiring dolphins, one of which bore him safely back 

 to Tanarus. 



" Secure he sits, and with harmonious strains 

 Requites his bearer for his friendly pains," 



Pliny also tells of a dolphin which daily carried a lad 

 to and from his school, across Lake Lucrinus, in Cam- 

 pania, and, after the lad's death, died of a broken heart ! 

 The shield and sword of Ulysses are described as having 

 borne the image of a dolphin, and it figures on many 

 ancient coins though for the most part very incorrectly 

 with a rounded head and spiny fins. Yet. on an 

 ancient Syracusan coin in the British Museum the 

 creature is very faithfully depicted. It shows a spiny 

 back also in heraldry, in which science it is reckoned as 

 "the king of fishes." It appears in several coats-of- 

 arms, and, amongst others, in that of Fitz-James, which 

 bears " a dolphin naiant embowed" heraldic terms, denot- 

 ing it as " swimming with a curved back." 



The name of dolphin, in French Dauphin, was also 

 adopted as the title of the eldest son of His most Christian 



