462 DELPHINID^E. 



GET ACE A. DELPHI NID JE. 



(ODONTOCETI.) 



Genus DELPHINUS (Linnaeus, 1766). 



Generic Character. Head with well-marked produced beak ; a dorsal-fin. 

 Teeth conical, equal, and numerous in both jaws. Beak of skull usually as 

 long as brain-case, or even longer. 



COMMON DOLPHIN. 



Delphinus delphis (Linn.). 



Specific Character. Black above, shaded to brilliant white below. Teeth 

 $ : S8 to so : iu ; vertebra 70 to 75. Length of adult 6 to 8 feet. 



Delphinus delphis, LINNJSUS, Syst. Nat., I., 108 (1766). 



vulgaris, LACEP&DE, Hist. Nat. des Oct., 250 (1804). 

 AsX^/f, ARISTOTLE, Hist. An. Z., VI., c. 12. 



Delphinus, PLINY, Hist. Nat. Z., IX., c. 8. 



ArdluarsuTc of Greenlanders, Springare of Swedes. 



THE mythological and poetical associations which 

 belong to the Dolphin, its reputed attachment to man- 

 kind, its benevolent aid in cases of shipwreck, its dedi- 

 cation to the gods, and many other attributes expressive 

 of the high estimation in which it was held in olden 

 times, afford a striking example of how the unre- 

 strained imagination of the ancients could raise the most 

 gorgeous structures of poetry and religion upon the 

 most slender basis. The story of Arion's escape on the 



