BRITISH MAMMALS 



Genus Delphinus. 



THE COMMON DOLPHIN. 



Delphinus delphis, Linnaeus. 

 Plate 50, 



In this genus, of which the Common Dolphin is the type, the elongated 

 snout takes the form of a distinct beak. The mouth of the Common 

 Dolphin contains from forty to sixty pairs of small sharp teeth in each jaw, 

 the dorsal iin is large, and like the flippers, is more or less sickle-shaped in 

 outline. 



The body is long and very graceful in its lines, measuring from beak to 

 tail from 6 to 8 feet long. 



Sir William Flower thus describes its varied colouring from a specimen 

 captured off the coast of Cornwall in March 1879 {Transactions Zoological 

 Society, vol. xi. p. 2) : " Instead of being simply black above and white 

 below, as usually described, the sides were shaded, mottled, and streaked 

 with various tints of yellow and grey. . . . The under surface was of the 

 purest possible white." 



The figure on Plate 50 has been drawn from the coloured picture of 

 this specimen illustrating Sir William Flower's paper, by kind permission of 

 the Publication Committee. 



According to Millais, the under parts of the Common Dolphin are, in 

 early winter, grey or greenish white. 



It inhabits the temperate parts of the Atlantic, and similar or closely 

 related forms are found in the Pacific. 



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