THE PORPOISE. 133 
and sometimes swimming in “Indian file” as they shout over the surface of 
the sea, just showing their black and glossy backs above the water, and 
keeping such excellent line that they seem to be animated by one spirit and 
one will. 
As might be presumed from the formidable array of sharp teeth with which 
the jaws are studded, and which are so arranged that the upper and lower 
sets interlock when the animal closes its mouth, the food of the Porpoise 
consists entirely of animal substances, and almost wholly of fish, which it 
consumes in large quantities, much to the disgust of human fishermen. 
Herrings, pilchards, sprats, and other saleable fish are in great favour with 
the Porpoise, which pursues its finny prey to the very shores, and, driving 
among the vast shoals in which these fish congregate, destroys enormous 
quantities of them. The fish are 
conscious of the presence of their 
destroyer, and flee before it in 
terror, often flinging themselves into 
the certain death of nets or shallow 
water in their hope to escape from 
the devouring jaws of the Porpoise. 
Even salmon and such large fish 
fall frequent victims to their pur- 
suer, which twists, turns, and leaps 
with such continuous agility that it 
is more than a match for its swift 
and nimble prey. Not even the marvellous leaping powers of the salmon 
are sufficient to save them from the voracious Porpoise, which is not to be 
baffled by any such impotent d-vices. 
The Porpoise seems to keep closely to the coasts, and is seldom seen in 
mid-ocean. It appears to be a migratory animal, as the season of its dis- 
appearance from one locality generatly coincides with its arrival on some 
other coast. It is very widely spread, appearing to inhabit with equal security 
the warm waters of the Mediterranean, the cool seas of our own coasts, or the 
icy regions of the high latitudes. 
The length of a full-grown Porpoise is extremely variable, the average 
being from six to eight feet. The colour of the Porpoise is a blue-black on 
the upper surface of the body, and a bright silvery white below ; so that when 
the animal executes one of its favourite gyrations the contrasting tints produce 
a strange effect as they rapidly succeed each other. The iris of the eye is 
yellowish. 
The word Porpoise is corrupted from the French term Porc-forsson, 
ie. “Hog fish,” and bears the same signification as its German name, 
Meerschwetn. 
THE DOLPHIN is remarkable for the enormous number of teeth which stud 
its mouth, no less than forty-seven being found on each side of both jaws, 
the full complement being one hundred and ninety. In the head of one 
specimen were found fifty teeth on each side of each jaw, making a comple- 
ment of two hundred in all. Between each tooth there is a space equal to the 
width of a single tooth, so that when the animal closes its mouth the teeth of 
both jaws interlock perfectly. All the teeth are sharply pointed and flattened, 
and slightly curved backwards, so that the entire apparatus is wonderfully 
adapted for the retention of the slippery marine creatures on which the 
Dolphin feeds. Fish of various kinds form the usual diet of the Dolphin, 
which especially delights in the flat fishes of our coasts, and often prowls 
about the shoals of herrings and pilchards that periodically reach our shores, 
The Dolphin is not a very large animal, measuring, when fully grown, from 
PORPOISE, OR PORPESSE.—(Phocena 
commiintis.) 
