COMMON DOLPHIN. 465 



was general in France, and the authority of Dr. Caius 

 shows that it was considered a dehcacy in England, but 

 it is probable that it never was caught in sufficient 

 abundance on our shores to be a common article of food 

 in this country. 



The name Dolphin is from the French Dauphin, which 

 is derived from the Latin Delphinus, Greek Delphis. Dr. 

 Gray remarks of this genus that" most maritime persons 

 call these animals ' Bottle-noses, Bottle-heads, or Flounder- 

 heads,' sometimes adding whale to the name. They 

 generally confine the name of Dolphin, most used by 

 landsmen, to the Scomberoid fish {Coryphana) which 

 changes colour in dying." It is to the fish, therefore, 

 and not to the cetacean, that the time-honoured poetical 

 allusions to " the dying Dolphin's changing hues " are 

 to be referred. 



The Common Dolphin has the forehead abruptly 

 rounded and descending -rather suddenly to the base of 

 the rostrum, which is somewhat depressed, whence the 

 French names of " Bee d'Oie " and " Oie de Mer " 

 applied to this animal ; it is about six inches in length, 

 and is separated from the forehead by a slight ridge. 

 The jaws are long and powerful and are covered by thin 

 and almost immovable lips. The blow-hole is crescentic, 

 with the horns directed backwards ; the eye is of 

 moderate size, and the orifice of the ear extremely small, 

 being scarcely larger than a pin-hole. The body tapers 

 towards the tail, its greatest thickness being just in front 

 of the dorsal-fin, which is about nine inches in height, 

 the anterior margin being convex and the posterior 

 somewhat concave. The upper parts are black, shading 

 through the grey of the fianks to a clear glittering white 

 beneath. 



The teeth vary in number, but there are usually from 



3 



