l-iG MAMMALIA. 



ca])acious nioiitlis, a great voluinc of water, there rcqiiircil to lie some nictliod of getting rid 

 of it ; and aeeordingly it passes through the nostrils bv means of a peculiar dis])osition of tlie 

 re/iim jiuhiti, anil is aceiimulateil in a sac situated at the external orifice of the cavity of the 

 nuse, iilience, by the C()ni|iression of powerful museles, it is violently exiielled through a 

 narrow aperture pierced on the summit of the head. It is thus that these animals ])roduee 

 those jets of water observed by mariners at so great ii distance. Their nostrils, continually 

 bathed in salt ^vater, could not be lined with a membrane sufficiently delicate to enable tliem to 

 perceive odours ; hence they have none of those projecting lamiiiie observed in other animals : 

 the (dfaetory nerve is in some wanting, and if there Ijc any endimed i\itb the sense of smell, 

 It must be in a very slight degree. Their larynx, of a jiyraniidal form, ]ienetrates into the 

 jjosferior portion of tlie nostrils, to receive air and conduct it to the lungs, \Mthout tlic animal 

 being oldiged to raise its head and throat above water for that purpose : there are no pro- 

 jecting lamina- in the glottis, and the voice is reduced to simple bellowing. They have no 

 vestige of hair*, but the whole body is covered with a smooth skin, under which [or more 

 strictly, forming piart of it,] is that thick layer of blubber abounding in oil, tlie jirincipal 

 oljject for A\hieh they are pursued. 



The maninue are placed near the anus, and their swimming-paws are incapable of 

 grasping. 



Their stomach has five and sometimes as many as seven distinct sacs; instead of one single 

 spleen, they have several, that are small and globular. Those species which have teeth have 

 thera all conical and similar to one another; for they do not chew their food, but swallow it 

 rapidly. 



Two little bones suspended in the flesh, neat the anus, arc the sole remaining vestiges of 

 jiosterior hiidis. 



Several liave a vertical fin on the hack, composed of a tendinous substance, but unsup- 

 ported by bone. Their eyes, flattened m front, have a thick and iolid sdileroficn ; and the 

 teguments of the tongue are soft and smooth. 



They may be subdivided into two small tribes : those in which the head bears the usual 

 proportion to the body, and those in which it is immoderately large; the first comprehenehug 

 tlie I*(dphins and the Narwhals. 



Tni~. Dolphins {Dclpliinii^, Lin.) — 

 Have teeth in Imtli jaws, all simple, and nearly always cunir.il. Tlie\' arc the niost carnivorous, and, 

 in prupurtion to their size, the must cruel uf their uriier. There is no ei.eeiuu. 



Tni; DoLrruxs, propcrl)- so calleil, {l)cljy/tini's, C'liv.) — 

 Have a convex forehead, anil the iiiuz/,le, which forms a kind of beak in front of the head, more 

 slender than tlie rest. 



Tile ('(ininKiii lidljiliiii l!>. </.■//*// /.v, Lin.).— Tlio beak -like .snout (Iipresse'l, ami .inn oil on e.Tcli siilc of liotli jaws 

 witji from forty-two to forty-seven slender, curved, and pointed teetti : it is blacl\ above, white below, and eiglit or 

 ten irri nilengtli. Tliis ariiniiil, found in vast herds in every sea [?], and celebrated for the velocity of its niove- 

 nJeMt^, which sometimes precipitate it on the decks of vessels, appears really to have been the Dolphin of the 

 ancients. The entii-e organization of its brain would seem to indicate the docility which they attributed to it.t 



Tlie Great Dolphin fX>. /^//'.s/i;, Boriaterre.) — The beak short, broad, and depressed; twenty-one to twenty-four 

 teelli on each sido aliove and below, wlucli are coniral, and often worn down : some imiiv'iduals are more than 

 liftei-n foot in Ien;,oli. If app-'ais that they ;ire found in the Mediterranean as widl as in the Ocean [and, though 

 seldom taken, on aeeount of the extreme rapidit\" of their inovenieiits, they are not rare in the Uritish seas. There 

 are unmeLous o(li(U-s]. 



M. de Blaiinille separates from these first l)ol[iliins, under the terra 



Dr.LPIIlNORYXCHUS, 



Tliose species in whicli the snout, though elongated and slender, is not separated from the forehead 

 hy a distinct groove. 



' Kvcciit in tlie c<--'iua Jriia, ,eOrbii,'nr. wliLTein llicre are true I Ihfip^nis) , C'Whrntci'. f.>r io. beautiful irhK-,.i:[il colours, iviiitli biarj 

 ""iisiiu-lics — Ed. Uie biiiiic pii|iL.laT nauie — liu. 



' riiid aiijruiil iimsl riul be coiUuuN.led ^fitli q lisli Curyj, .isna 1 



