Teeth. 



70 PORPESSE. Class IV. 



but grows {lender towards the tail, forming the 

 figure of a cone. 



The nofe projedls a little, Is much (horter than 

 that of the dolphin, and is furnifhed with very 

 llrong mufcles, which enables it the readier to turn 

 up the fand. 



In each jaw are forty-eight teeth, fmall, fnarp 

 pointed, and a little moveable : like thofe of tht 

 dolphin, they are fo placed as that the teeth of 

 one jaw locks into thofe of the other when clofed. 



The tongue is fiat, pectinated at the edges, and 

 faftened down to the bottom of the mouth. 



The eyes fmail ; the Ipout hole on the top of the 

 head. • 



On the back is one fin placed rather below the 

 middle -, on the bread are two fins. The tail fc- 

 niilunar. 



The color of the porpeiTe is generally black, 

 and the belly whitifi:!, not but they fometimes 

 vary ; for in the river Si. Laurence there is a white 

 kind; and Doctor Borkfe^ in his voyage to the 

 Scilly ifles, obferved a fm.all fpecies of cetaceous 

 fifh, which he calls thcrnbacks^ from their broad 

 and iliarp fin on the back, fome of thele were 

 brown, fome quite white, others fpotted : but 

 whether they were only a variety of this fifh, or 

 whether they were fmall grampufes^ which are alfo 

 fpotted, we cannot determine. 

 F^T* The porpeiTe is remarkable for the vaft quan- 



tity of the fat or lard that furrounds the body, 



which 



