OJiq CETACEA. 



Delphinus. (25 species.) 



Deiphinus Delphis. The COMMON DOLPHIN. (Plate VIII. 

 fig. 4. and PL VJ. fig. 12.) 



The animals of the genus Delpliinus, have more teeth than any 

 other of the Mammalia, the number averaging ninety in each 

 jaw ; in form, simple and conical, but adapted for seizing only. 

 The jaws of these animals project so as to be like a slender beak, 

 separated from the forehead by a groove, or furrow, that resem- 

 bles the bill of a goose. (Plate IV. fig. 11.) There is a fin 

 upon the back. The Common Dolphin is usually six or seven 

 feet long, sometimes nine or ten feet. Its form is admirably 

 adapted for swimming. The tail is large and powerful. This 

 animal is familiar to fishermen and mariners, and cannot but be 

 regarded with interest, on account of its beautiful and graceful 

 form, the fleetness with which it darts through the waters, its 

 gambols and leaps, and its social habits. 



So smooth are the bodies of Dolphins, that "their sportive gam- 

 bols create surprisingly little disturbance of the water." To 

 the ancients, the manners of the Dolphin were well known, and 

 to them, its playful, social disposition, made it a great favorite. 

 It is accurately figured on many of their coins. Among the 

 Greeks, it was sacred to Apollo, who was worshiped at Delphi 

 with Dolphins for his symbols. It early appeared on the shield 

 of some of the princes of France, gave name to a province of 

 that empire, and a tiUe to the heir-apparent of the crown. 



The brilliancy and variety of many of the Dolphins found in 

 the Southern and Equatorial seas, cannot be adequately repre- 

 sented by pictures, or exhibited in words. The Dolphin, "with 

 its many dying colors," of which poets have sung, is, however, 

 not the true animal, but a scomberoid fish, Coryphaena hippurus, 

 the Dorado, of the Portuguese; though, as Dr. J. E. Gray re- 

 marks, "to this fish, which changes color in dying, most mari- 

 time persons generally confine the name of Dolphin." But, 

 however it may be celebrated in story and in song, the Dolphin 

 appears quite wolfish in its habits, in troops, hunting down its 

 prey, in its rapid course, forcing the flying fishes to take refuge 

 in the air; but continuing the chase until the exhausted victims 

 are taken. Of the many wonderful stories related by ancient 

 naturalists respecting the Dolphin, we have room for only the 

 following. Pliny says that, "in Barbary, near the town of 

 Hippo, a Dolphin used to frequent the shore, and receive food 

 from any hand that supplied it, that it would mix with persons 

 bathing, allow them to mount its back, and obey their direction, 

 with all celerity and precision." The ancients speak of the 



