Class IV. D O L P H I N. 67 



the reft of the cetaceous tribe. V/e know that 

 at prefent the appearance of this fifli, and the 

 porpefle, are far from being eileemed favorable 

 omens by the feamen ; for their boundings, fprings 

 and frolics in the water, are held to be fure figns 

 of an approaching gale. 



It is from their leaps out of that element that 

 they afiume a temporary form that is not natural 

 to them, but which the old painters and fculp- 

 tors have almofi: always given them. A dolphin 

 is fcarce ever exhibited by the antients in a ftrait 

 lliape, but almoft always incurvated : fuch are 

 thofe.on the coin of Alexander the Qreat^ which 

 is preferved by Beloriy as well as on feveral other 

 pieces of antiquity. The poets defcribe them 

 much in the fame manner, and it is not impro- 

 bable but that the one had borrowed from the 

 other: * ^ 



Tumidumque pando tranfilit dorfo mare 

 Tyrrhenus omni pifcis exfiiltat freto, 

 Agitatque gyros. 



Senec. Trag, Agam, 450, 



Upon the fwelling waves the dolphins fhew 

 Their bending backs, then fwiftly darting ^o. 

 And in a thoufand wreaths their bodies throw. 



The natural fhape of the dolphin is almoft flrait, De^crip, 

 the back being very flightly incurvated, and the 

 body flender : the nofe is long, narrow, and point- 



