THE DOLPHIN. 97 



and that they sleep with the snout above water ; but some of 

 these particulars seem difficult to ascertain. 



No one who is ever so little conversant with the classical au- 

 thors, is ignorant of the prejudices of the ancients in favour of 

 the dolphin. In the times of antiquity, it was celebrated for its 

 natural affection to the human race ; and scarcely an accident 

 could happen to an individual at sea, but the dolphin was intro- 

 duced to bring him safely to land. The figure of this fish being 

 in no respect prepossessing, and its rapacity but ill calculated 

 to conciliate sentimental affection, this predilection of the Greeks 

 and Romans in its favour, is a circumstance for which neither 

 philosophy nor criticism can satisfactorily account. It is there- 

 fore, in all probability, to be attributed to some mythological 

 story, or legendary fable, invented in the ages of ignorance, and 

 rendered current by superstitious credulity. Their painters, in 

 giving an erroneous delineation of its form, have incurred the 

 same censure as the poets, in exhibiting a fictitious representa- 

 tion of its qualities. But the error of the former is more easily 

 accounted for, in considering the attitude in which they have re- 

 presented its figure, as they have invariably chosen that which 

 it exhibits when bounding out of the water in those gambols, 

 which, however they might be interpreted by the Greeks and 

 Romans, are, among the more skilful mariners of modern times, 

 generally considered as the forerunner of a storm. Our fisher- 

 men, more attached to reality than fiction, consider the capture 

 of one of these fishes as no contemptible prize, on account of 

 its oil as well as its flesh, which, when young, is said to be as 

 good as veal, and to resemble it in taste. Modern industry has 

 therefore discovered this fish to be of importance to mankind 

 although not for the qualities attributed to it by the ancients. 



CHAPTER II. 

 CARTXXiAGXKOUS FIS1IHS. 



His jaws horrific, armM with three-fold fate, 

 Here dwells the direful shark." 



We have often observed that Nature proceeds by successive 

 gradations, and that the cetaceous fishes descend only one step 

 downward from the quadruped race, may be perceived from a 

 perusal of the last chnper. It may now be observed that the 

 cartilaginous kind is still farther removed from that class of ani- 

 mals. T 



