DELPAINIDA 265 
river Thames, having been seen as high up as Richmond; it has 
also been observed in the Seine at Neuilly, near Paris. It frequents 
the Scandinavian coasts, entering the Baltic in the summer ; and 
is found as far north as Baffin’s Bay, and as far west as the coasts 
of the United States. Southward its range is more limited than 
that of the Common Dolphin, as, though very common on the 
Atlantic coasts of France, it rarely enters the Mediterranean. 
It feeds on fish, such as mackerel, pilchards, and herrings, of 
which it devours large quantities, and, following the shoals, is often 
caught by fishermen in the nets along with its prey. In former 
times it was a common and esteemed article of food in England and 
in France, but is now rarely if ever eaten, being commercially 
valuable when caught only for the oil obtained from its blubber. 
Its skin is sometimes used for leather and boot-thongs, but 
the so-called “porpoise hides” are generally obtained from the 
Beluga. 
A closely similar if not identical species from the American 
coast of the North Pacific has been described under the name of 
Phocena vomerina, and another from the mouth of the Rio de la 
Plata as P. spinipennis. 
The stomach of the Porpoise (Fig. 94) may be taken as a typical 
example of this 
organ in the Ceta- 
cea. The first and 
by far the largest 
compartment ()) 
may be regarded 
as a kind of crop, 
or dilatation of 
the large ceso- 
phagus (a). It is 
lined by a thick 
white epithelium, 
which ceases 
abruptly at the 
entrance into the 
next cavity. It 
corresponds to 
the cardiac com- 
partment of the 
stomach in the 
Fic. 94.—Diagrammatic section of the stomach of the Porpoise. 
a, Esophagus ; 8, left, or cardiac, compartment ; ¢, middle compart- 
Ungulates and ment; d and e, the two divisions of the right, or pyloric, compart- 
certain Rodents 3 ment; f, pylorus; g, duodenum, dilated at its commencement; h, 
but, although its evel 
walls do not appear to contain peptic glands, its contents undergo 
partial digestion—probably caused by the regurgitation into it 
