328 -fYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



and fishy. In 1820 three more were driven right up the 

 same river to the town of Wareham. Then a fence was 

 put across the river, both above and below them, in 

 order that they might be exhibited. They plunged 

 violently, however, and their cries — which they continued 

 during the night as well as during the day — were so dis- 

 tressing, that after the third day of their captivity they 

 were taken from the water, killed, and cut up. 



In the porpoise, as in the right whale, the seven neck 

 bones unite together. The stomach is divided into three 

 chambers, thus reminding us of some of the even-toed 

 ungulates. The brain is very large and very broad, and 

 is grooved over the surface in a complex pattern. The 

 nasal passages which are, as in all air-breathing animals, 

 double in the skull, unite and open on the convex surface 

 of the head by a single external aperture. The canal 

 which passes from the upper surface of the skull to the 

 exterior, is dilated into certain chambers which have 

 elastic and muscular walls, by which means the forcible 

 ejection of the breath — i.e., the "spouting" — is the more 

 readily effected. 



The name " porpoise " seems to be derived from the 

 French porc-poisson, or the Italian porco and pesce. Its 

 French name marsouin, on the other hand, corresponds 

 with the old German word " marsuin," which is the same 

 as the German " meerschwein," which is "sea-hog" in 

 English. 



The bay porpoise of the Pacific United States is one of 

 the smallest of the cetacea. 



The pilot-whale, or round-headed porpoise, remark- 

 able as it is for the shape of its head, is still more re- 

 markable for the length of its paddle, or pectoral fin. 

 It is not that the parts answering to our upper arm and 

 our forearm are lengthened : it is the digits which are 



