THE DOLPHIN. 73 



©r a crooked form : From th-j ckfcriptions of the poets, 

 it appears that thej entertained the fame inaccurate no- 

 tion of the fl:ape of this animal *. Before a florm the 

 dolpi.ins are obferved to be in great commotion, and fre- 

 ouentlj to leap above the furface of the water. It is pro- 

 bably in this attitude, almoll the orAy one in which they 

 were then feen, that ihey have a crooked appearance to 

 the eye f . The natural lliape of the dolphin is almoft 

 flraight, the back being very flightly incrirvated, and the 

 body (lender. 



But it is not in the external form alone of the dolphin 

 that the ancient writers were miftaken : Their philofo- 

 phers and hidorians feem to have contended who fhould 

 invent the mofl extravagant fables concerning it. This 

 iifli was celebrated in the earlieil time for its fondnefs of 

 the human race. It does not dread man, fays Pliny, as a 

 llranger ; but comes to meet him in the fliip, and to 

 fport around the vefTel : hence it was diilinguifired by 

 the epithets of boy loving, and philanthropiil J. It was 

 confecrated to the gods ; and therefore was honoured with 

 the title of f acred fifh. Various are the fervices which 

 this race are faid to have performed to man : Pliny, 

 Aelimt, and many of the other early writers fet no bounds 

 to their belief of the tales related concerning the dolphin's 

 attachment to the human fpecles : Pliny the younger, 

 who lived in an age lefs remarkable for credulitj/, makes 

 an apology for the ftory of the enam.ourcd dolphin of 

 Hippo, which he narrates in a beautiful manner §. 



Vol. hi. K From 



* Tumi-iumq: pancio tranfiljt dorfo mare. Scne:. Tr.g. Ajam. 45©, 



•} Bellonius apud Willoiigh. p. 30. 



\ Briiini Zoology, vol. iii. p. 6j. 



S r/iii? Epul. lib, ix. ep. 3j. 



