Chap. 7.] 
DOLPHINS. 
3G9 
of these animals respire through vent-holes, which commu- 
nicate with the lungs ; in the balaena they are on the fore- 
head,^^ and in the dolphin on the back. Sea-calves, too, which 
we call '^phocae,"^^ breathe and sleep upon dry land — sea- 
tortoises also,^^ of which we shall have more to say hereafter. 
CHAP. 7. (8.) DOLPHINS. 
The swiftest not only of the sea animals, but of all animals 
whatever, is the dolphin.^^ He is more rapid in his move- 
Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 5. 
Cuvier remarks, that these nostrils, or vent-holes, are placed some- 
what further back on the head in the dolphin than in the whale ; but at 
the same time they cannot be said to be situate on the back of the animal. 
52 Or seals." Th^jy will be further mentioned in c. 15 of the present 
Book. 
53 Or " turtles," which are more fully described in c. 21 of this Book. 
5* Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 74. 
55 Cuvier remarks, that in the present Chapter there is a confusion of the 
peculiarities of two different animals, and refers the reader to his Note on 
B. viii. c. 38, which, so far as it has not been set forth, is to the follow- 
ing effect : — "I may here remark, that Pliny speaks on several occasions 
of dolphins with spines or stings on the back, although at other times he 
is found to give that name to the same cetaceous animal which is so deno- 
minated by us. Thus, in his story in B. ix. c. 8, of the friendship con- 
ceived by a dolphin in Lake Lucrinus for a child at Baiae, he takes care to 
remark that the dolphin, when taking the child on his back, concealed his 
spines beneath his dorsal fin. I am of opinion, however, that I have re- 
cognized the fish which Seneca, Pliny, and even Aristotle have sometimes 
confounded with the real dolphin, apparently because it had received that 
name from certain fishermen, and these are my reasons for forming this 
conclusion. In c. 7 of the Ninth Book, Pliny mingles with many facts that 
really do belong to the real dolphin, one trait which is quite foreign to it, 
* It is so swift,' says he, * that were it not for the fact that its mouth is 
situate much beneath its muzzle, almost, indeed, in the middle of its belly, 
not a fish would be able to escape its pursuit : in consequence of this, it 
can only seize its prey by turning on its back.' This, it must be observed, 
is not one of those mistakes which we are to put down to Pliny's own ac- 
count, and of which he has so many ; for we find Aristotle as well, who has 
so perfectly known and described the ordinary dolphin, attributing a mouth 
similarly situate to the dolphin and the cartilaginous animals. This fact, 
which is totally false as regards the real dolphin, is, in all probability, ap- 
plicable to the alleged dolphin, whose back is mentioned as being armed 
with spines. These three characteristics, a mouth situate very far be- 
neath the nose, spines on the back, and power and swiftness sufficient to 
enable it to fight the crocodile, are only to be found united in certain of 
the genus ' Squalus,' such as the * Squalus centrina,* and the ' Squalus 
spinax' of Linnaeus." 
VOL. II, B B 
