CETACEA. 



485 



upper and lower jaw, of the simplest structure and 

 conical in shape. These animals are the most carnivo- 

 rous, and, in proportion to their size, the most vora- 

 cious of the Class. 



The Dolphins, properly so called (Delphinus}, have the forehead 

 arched and the snout prolonged into a sort of beak. 



The Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis) is provided with from 

 forty-two to forty-seven slender-curved and sharp-pointed teeth in each 

 jaw ; it is black above, white beneath, and from eight to ten feet in 

 length. It is found abundantly around the British shores and all 

 over the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Its elegant and graceful form, 

 the extraordinary fleetness with which it darts through the water, 

 and its agile gambols, have been celebrated in all ages. 



The Porpoises (Phoccena) have no prolonged snout ; their muzzle 

 is short and uniformly convex. 



The Common Porpoise (Delphinus Phoccena) is furnished with com- 

 pressed, cutting teeth of a rounded form, about five and twenty in 

 number on each side of both jaws. It is the smallest of the Cetacea, 

 seldom exceeding four or five feet in length ; it is very common in 

 all our seas, where it is met with in large shoals. 



The Grampus (Delphinus Orca) has thick conical teeth, about 

 eleven in number on each side, a little crooked, the posterior ones 

 flattened transversely. The body is black above, white below, with 





FlG. 412. SPKARIXG THE NARWHAL. 



