108 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



turalists of antiquity, are laughed at even by the old women of 

 our limes. The dolphin is in no respects superior to the other 

 cetaceans ; his musical taste is as low as zero, and if, like the 

 bonito and albacore, he follows a ship for days together, it is 

 most surely not out of affection for man, but on account of the 

 offal that is thrown overboard. But do not many human 

 friendships repose on similar selfish motives ? 



The Porpoise, (Delphinus Phoccena) which only attains a 



The Porpoise. 



length of five or six feet, and seems to be the smallest of all 

 cetaceans, is frequently confounded with the dolphin. It is at 

 home in the whole Northern Atlantic, in the Mediterranean, and 

 the Euxine. While the dolphin prefers the high sea, the por- 

 poise loves tranquil bays and cliff-sheltered shores, and often 

 swims up the rivers, so that individuals have been caught in 

 the Elbe and Seine as high up as Dessau and Paris. The 

 porpoise is a no less excellent swimmer than the dolphin, 

 making at least fifteen miles an hour. His rapidity and sharp 

 teeth render him a most dangerous enemy to all the lesser fry 

 of the ocean, whose sole refuge lies in the shallowest waters. 

 When he rises to the surface to draw breath, the back only 

 appears, the head and tail are kept under water. At the en- 

 trance of harbours, where he is frequently seen gambolling, his 

 undulatory or leaping movements, now rising with a grunt, 

 now sinking to reappear again at some distance, afford an enter- 

 taining spectacle. 



A much more formidable animal,the largestof thewhole dolphin 

 tribe, is the ravenous Grampus, (Delphinus Orca,) which measures 

 no less than twenty-five feet in length, and twelve or thirteen in 

 girth. The upper part of the body is black, the lower white : 

 the dorsal fin rises in the shape of a cone, to the height of 

 three feet or more. 



All naturalists agree in describing the grampus as the most 

 voracious of the dolphin family. Its ordinary food is the seal 



