BRITISH MAMMALS 
Genus Delphinus. 
THE COMMON DOLPHIN. 
Delphinus delphis, Linnaeus. 
Plate 50. 
In this genus, of which the Common Dolphin is the type, the elongated 
snout takes the form of a distinct beak. The mouth of the Common 
Dolphin contains from forty to sixty pairs of small sharp teeth in each jaw, 
the dorsal fin is large, and like the flippers, is more or less sickle-shaped in 
outline. 
The body is long and very graceful in its lines, measuring from beak to 
tail from 6 to 8 feet long. 
Sir William Flower thus describes its varied colouring from a specimen 
captured off the coast of Cornwall in March 1879 {Transactions Zoological 
Society, vol. xi. p. 2) : " Instead of being simply black above and white 
below, as usually described, the sides were shaded, mottled, and streaked 
with various tints of yellow and grey. . . . The under surface was of the 
purest possible white." 
The figure on Plate 50 has been drawn from the coloured picture of 
this specimen illustrating Sir William Flower's paper, by kind permission of 
the Publication Committee. 
According to Millais, the under parts of the Common Dolphin are, in 
early winter, grey or greenish white. 
It inhabits the temperate parts of the Atlantic, and similar or closely 
related forms are found in the Pacific. 
96 
