Chap. XYIII.] PO^VERS OF HIGHER BRUTES. 317 



animals may be much more liighly developed than is gene- 

 rally imagined. 



But we,. unfortunately, know very little about the more 

 intimate habits of either Porpoises or Dolphins, as the 

 medium in which they live removes them so much from any 

 minute and continuous examination. Some few interesting 

 observations have, however, been recorded concerning two 

 Porj^oises formerly in the large tank of the Brighton 

 Aquarium. 



W. Saville Kent says: * — "The first comer so readily accommo- 

 dated itself to its altered conditions, that on the second day it took 

 its food, smelts and sprats, from its keeper's haud, and has con- 

 tinued to do so ever since. The later arrival was at first less 

 sociably inclined, but both have latterly become equally tame, and 

 frequently, while receiving fish from my hand with the gentleness of 

 pet dogs, have pernjitted me to pat and stroke their slippery india- 

 rubber like backs." 



Curiosity is a sign of Intelligence of a comparatively 

 high order. It may be said to be almost absent in Birds, 

 but it seems to exist to a very marked degree in the 

 Porpoise. 



W. Saville Kent says : — "A new arrival is at once subjected to 

 the most importunate attention, and, advancing from familiarity to 

 contempt, if disapproved of, soon becomes the object of attack and 

 persecution. A few Dog-fish, three or four feet long, placed in the 

 same tank, soon fell victims to the tyranny cf the Porpoises; and 

 a fine Sturgeon, six feet long, was likewise much persecuted and 

 had to be removed. This was also the case with some large Skates. 

 The latter, so long as they maintained their usual habit of lying 

 sluggishly on the floor of the tank, escaped molehtatiou ; but no 

 sooner did these fish display any unwonted activity than the 

 Porpoises were upon them, and, making a convenient handle of 

 their characteristic attenuated tails, worried them incessantly." 

 On one occasion, the same observer witnessed " the two Cetacea 

 acting evidently in concert against one of the Skates." 



♦"Nature," July 17, 1873, p. 223. 



