50 NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Description. 



CHAP. III. 



" But, past belief, a dolphin's arched back 

 Preserv'd Arion from his destirTd wreck , 

 Secure he sits, and with harmonious strains, 

 Requites the bearer for his friendly pains." 



TRANS. OF OVI. 



THE DOLPHIN. 



THE dolphin has an almost straight shape, the 

 back being very slightly incurvated, and the 

 body slender; the nose is long, narrow, and 

 pointed, with a broad transverse band, or projec- 

 tion of the skin on its upper part. It has twenty- 

 one teeth in the upper, and nineteen in the lower 

 jaw, somewhat above an inch long, conic at the 

 upper end, sharp pointed, and bending a little in. 

 They are placed at a small distance from each 

 othei ; so that when the mouth (which is very 

 wide) is shut, the teeth of both jaws lock into 

 each other: the spout-hole is placed in the mid- 

 dle of the head; the tail is semi-lunar; the skin 

 is smooth; the colour of the back and sides, 



