164 THE DOLPHIN. 



which the jaws are studded, and which are so arranged that the upper 

 and lower sets interlock when the animal closes its mouth, the food of 

 the Porpoise consists entirely of animal substances, and almost wholly 

 of fish, which it consumes in large quantities, much to the disgust of 

 human fishermen. Herrings, pilchards, sprats, and other salable fish 

 are in great favor with the Porpoise, which pursues its finny prey to 

 the very shores, and, driving among the vast shoals in which these fish 

 congregate, destroys enormous quantities of them. The fish are con- 

 scious of the presence of their destroyer, and flee before it in terror, 

 often flinging themselves into the certain death of nets or shallow wa- 

 ter in their hope to escape from the devouring jaws of the Porpoise. 

 Even salmon and such large fish fall frequent victims to their pursuer, 

 which twists, turns, and leaps with such continuous agility that it is 

 more than a match for its swift and nimble prey. Not even the marvel- 

 lous leaping powers of the salmon are suflicient to save them from the 

 voracious Porpoise, which is not to be baffled by any such impotent devices. 



The Porpoise seems to keep closely to the coasts, and is seldom seen 

 in mid-ocean. It appears to be a migratory animal, as the season of 

 its disappearance from one locality generally coincides with that of its 

 arrival on some other coast. It is very widely spread, appearing to in- 

 habit with equal security the warm waters of the Mediterranean, the 

 cool seas of our own coasts, or the icy regions of the high latitudes. 



The length of a full-grown Porpoise is extremely variable, the aver- 

 age being from six to eight feet. The color of the Porpoise is a blue- 

 black on the upper surface of the body, and a bright silvery white be- 

 low ; so that when the animal executes one of its favorite gyrations the 

 contrasting tints produce a strange effect as they rapidly succeed each 

 other. The iris of the eye is yellowish. 



The word " Porpoise " is corrupted from the French term Porc-pois- 

 son — i. e., " Hog fish " — and bears the same signification as its German 

 name, Meerschwein. 



The Dolphin is remarkable for the enormous number of teeth which 

 stud its mouth, no less than forty-seven being found on each side of 

 both jaws, the full complement being one hundred and ninety. In the 

 head of one specimen were found fifty teeth on each side of each jaiv, 

 making a complement of tw^o hundred in all. -Between each tooth 

 there is a space equal to the w^idth of a single tooth, so that when the 

 animal closes its mouth the teeth of both jaws interlock perfectly. All 

 the teeth are sharply pointed and flattened, and slightly curved back- 

 ward, so that the entire apparatus is wonderfully adapted for the re- 

 tention of the slippery marine creatures on which the Dolphin feeds. 

 Fish of various kinds form the usual diet of the Dolphin, which espe- 

 cially delights in the flat fishes of our coasts, and often prowls about 

 the shoals of herrings and pilchards that periodically reach our shores. 



