THE EUROPEAN SEAS. 



199 



classical associations, the emblem of so many of the 

 old Mediterranean States and cities, is still the most 

 common species. The great Dolphin of the Atlan- 

 tic (D. tursio) only occasionally finds its way there. 

 The so-called Mediterranean Rorqual (Balcenoptera 

 musculus) is Lusitanian and Celtic ; it is only more 

 Mediterranean because, like the common Dolphin, 

 it has a less northern Atlantic range than certain 

 others of its order. 



Some early notices would lead us to suppose 

 that the Cetacea may formerly have ranged more 

 freely over the whole length of the Mediterranean 

 than they do at present. Such also appears to have 

 been the case as to the Lusitanian and Celtic por- 

 tions of the Atlantic. 



Of the amphibious Camivora, the common Seal 

 (Phoca vitulina) ranges down from northern latitudes 

 into the south, and enters the Mediterranean ; 

 but it is doubtful whether it is amongst the species 

 found in the Black Sea and the Caspian. The 

 Adriatic Seal, "the Monk 5 ' (Pelagus monachus), so 

 abundant about the islands of the Dalmatian 

 Archipelago, and the fiords of that solitary coast, 

 is also the common Seal of the Grecian seas. This 

 is a sub-genus, founded on dental characters, and 

 of which the form in question seems to have an 

 Eastern and somewhat limited Mediterranean range. 



