DELPHINIDA 263 
American coast as the river St. Lawrence, which it ascends for a 
considerable distance. On rare occasions it has been seen on the 
coast of Scotland. 
Remains of a Cetacean from the Lower Pliocene of Tuscany have 
been referred by Brandt to this genus under the name D. brocchit. 
In all the remaining genera of Delphinide the cervical region of 
the vertebral column is very short, and the first two, and usually 
more, of the vertebree are firmly united. 
Phocena,$—Teeth 25, small, occupying nearly the whole length 
of the rostrum, with compressed, spade-shaped crowns, separated 
from the root by a constricted 
neck (Fig. 92). Rostrum rather 
shorter than the cranium 
proper, broad at the base and 
tapering towards the apex. 
Premaxille raised into tuber- 
osities in front of the nares. 
The frontal bones forming a 
somewhat square, elevated pro- 
tuberance in the middle line of the skull behind the nares, rising 
altogether above the flattened nasals. Pterygoids very small, 
and widely separated in the middle line. Symphysis of mandible 
very short. Vertebre: C7, D13, L14,C31; total 65 (subject 
to slight individual variations). First to sixth cervical vertebra, 
and sometimes the seventh also, coalesced. Manus of moderate 
size, oval, slightly falcate ; second and third digits nearly equal in 
length ; fourth and fifth well developed, but shorter. Dorsal fin 
near the middle of the back, triangular ; its height considerably less 
than the length of the base ; its anterior edge frequently furnished 
with one or more rows of conical horny tubercles. 
The common Porpoise (Fig. 93), P. communis, is the best known 
of British Cetaceans. The word Porpoise (sometimes spelled Porpus 
and Porpesse) is apparently derived from the French pore and 
poisson, or the Italian porco and pesce, and thus corresponds with 
some of the English vernacular appellations, “ hog-fish,” “ sea-hog,” 
“herring-hog,” and the German Meerschwein, whence the usual modern 
French name of the animal, marsowin. ‘“ Porpoise” is commonly used 
by sailors to designate all the smaller Cetaceans, especially those 
numerous species which naturalists call “Dolphins ”; but in scientific 
language it is restricted to the genus Phocwna of Cuvier, of which the 
Porpoise of the British seas, Phocwna communis, Cuvier (Delphinus 
phocena, Linnus), is the type. 
The Common Porpoise, when full grown, attains a length of 5 
feet or a little more. The dimensions of an adult female specimen 
from the English Channel were as follows :—length in straight line 
1 Cuvier, Regne Animal, vol. i. p. 279 (1817). 
Fic, 92.—Teeth of Porpoise. Twice natural size. 
