216 THE DOLPHIN. 



It is also recorded that the shield and sword of Ulysses 

 bore an image of the Dolphin, and it is certain it is seen 

 in very ancient medals and coins. It very early appeared 

 on the shield of some of the princes of France ; it gave a 

 name to a fair province of that empire, and hence a title 

 to the heir-apparent of the crown. 



Scarcely less fabulous are those other narratives which 

 have been transmitted on the testimony of the early natu- 

 ralists. They tell us that the Dolphin made itself familiar 

 with man, and conceived a warm attachment for him. Pliny 

 narrates that in Barbary, near the town of Hippo, a Dol- 

 phin used to frequent the shore, and accept of food from 

 any hand which supplied it ; it would mix among those 

 who were bathing, would allow them to mount its back, 

 would consign itself with docility to their direction, and 

 obey them with as much celerity as precision. Still 

 more extraordinary is that other tale the ancients relate in 

 illustration of the assertion that the Dolphin was yet more 

 partial to children than to adults. Thus, according to Pliny, 

 in several chronicles it was recorded that a Dolphin which 

 had penetrated the lake of Lucrinus, in Campania, every 

 day received bread from the hand of a child, answering 

 to his call, and transporting him on its back to school on the 

 other side of the lake. This intimacy continued for several 

 years, when, the boy dying, the affectionate Dolphin, over- 

 whelmed with grief, soon sunk under its bereavement. 



The Common Dolphin is an inhabitant of the European 

 Seas, of the Atlantic, and Mediterranean. It is more com- 

 mon in the temperate zone than in places that are further 

 south. It is true that other species of this genus frequent the 

 seas of Africa, Asia and America; but it is by no means sat- 

 isfactorily ascertained that the species now under considera- 

 tion has this extensive range. The opposite opinion seems 

 to be much more probable. They navigate the waters of 

 the ocean in more or less numerous troops, and their vigor- 

 ous springs and rapid natation, which is daily observed by 



