THE DOLPHIN. 215 



course to ascertain the truth of this proposition as it re- 

 gards the inhabitants of the water than of the land, and 

 yet many facts go to establish its truth with regard to the 

 Cetacea. Much, however, remains to be done on this and 

 other points, ere we arrive at a perfect natural history of 

 the order. 



The Common Dolphin is perhaps better known as the 

 fictitious creature of unrestrained imagination and of heroic 

 poetry, than the sober Goose of the Sea. It is uniformly 

 considered as the Dolphin of antiquity ; the original whence 

 were produced those fantastic beings, endowed with all 

 those extraordinary attributes and charms with which it 

 was clothed. It is the Hieros Ichthys, or sacred Fish of the 

 Greeks, to which they originally paid divine honors, and 

 which they afterwards embellished with all the illusions 

 of unbridled fancy. It was also sacred to their god Apollo; 

 the reason assigned for which is, that when Apollo ap- 

 peared to the Cretans, and obliged them to settle on the 

 coast of Delphis, where he founded that oracle so famous 

 throughout antiquity, he did so under the form of a Dol- 

 phin. Apollo was thus, according to Visconti, adored not 

 only in connexion with the Delphine province, but the 

 Delphinus fish. He was worshipped at Delphi with Dol- 

 phins for his symbols. The ancients respected the Dol- 

 phin as a benefactor of mankind ; they cherished the tale 

 of Phalantus, the founder of Tarentum, being carried on 

 shore by a Dolphin when wrecked on the coast of Italy ; 

 and the story of the musician Arion, who, when about to 

 be thrown overboard by the sailors that they might possess 

 themselves of his wealth, begged that he might be permit- 

 ted to play some melodious tune, and then threw himself 

 into the sea ; upon which one of the many Dolphins which 

 had been attracted by the music, carried him on its back 

 safe to Tanarus ; or rather, perhaps, according to Ovid, 



Secure he sits, and with harmonions strains 

 Requites his bearer for his friendly pains. 



