444 



THE DOLPHIN. 



attacking it from below. Whatever credence may be given to the latter part of the story, the 

 former is certainly true, and is corroborated by Captain Scott, who tells me that he has often 

 seen the Thresher engaged in this strange amusement, springing high out of the water, and 

 delivering the most terrific blows with its tail on the object of its pursuit. For the co-opera- 

 tion of the sword-fish he does not vouch, but has remarked that the whale does not seek refuge 

 in the ocean depths when thus persecuted, but makes short and hurried attempts to dive, 

 seeming to be prevented from making its escape by some allied force beneath. 



Apart from the marvellous tales which were once rife concerning the beauty and accom- 

 plishments of the Dolphin, the animal is well worthy of notice, and needs no aid of fictitious 

 narrative to enhance its value in the eyes of the naturalist or the observer. 



The Dolphin is remarkable for the enormous number of teeth which stud its mouth, no 

 less than forty-seven being found on each side of both jaws, the full complement being one 



DOLPHIN.— Ddpliinus delphis. 



hundred and ninety. In the head of one specimen were found fifty teeth on each side of each 

 jaw, making a complement of two hundred in all. Between the teeth there is a space equal 

 to the width of a single tooth, so that when the animal closes its mouth the teeth of both jaws 

 interlock perfectly. All the teeth are sharply pointed and flattened, and slightly curved 

 backward, so that the entire apparatus is wonderfully adapted for the retention of the slippery 

 marine creatures on which the Dolphin feeds. Fish of various kinds form the usual diet of 

 the Dolphin, which especially delights in the flat fishes of our coasts, and often prowls about 

 the shoals of herrings and pilchards that periodically reach our shores. 



The Dolphin is not a very large animal, measuring, when full grown, from six to ten feet 

 in length, seven feet being the usual average. Its color is black upon the back, and silvery- 

 white on the abdomen, while the flanks are grayish-white. There is a peculiar satin-like sheen 

 upon the skin when the animal is submerged beneath the water or freshly removed from the 

 sea, but which rapidly disappears as the skin becomes dry. The beautiful colors which have 

 been said to play about the body of a dying Dolphin are not entirely mythical, but belong 

 rightly to one of the fishes, the coryphene, or dorado, which is popularly called the Dolphin 

 by sailors. 



The eyes of the Dolphin are small, and are supplied with eyelids ; the pupil of the eye is 

 heart-shaped. The ears have but a very minute external aperture, barely admitting an ordi- 

 nary pin, so that its sense of hearing appears to be very limited. 



