THE COMMON DOLPHIN. 
41 
probably from this quarter. The dolphin seems to be of rare occurrence 
on the Dublin coast, as Dr. Jacob informed me in January, 1839, that in 
the course of many years he could obtain but one specimen. Dr. It. Ball 
considers it as not uncommon on the southern coast, and it is named in 
the Cork Fauna of Dr. Harvey. 
The following notes were made by me on the Mediterranean when on 
board H. M. S. Beacon in 1841 : — 
April 1 Qth. A herd of dolphins, in size and colour like the common 
species, kept rolling about near our vessel in the Straits of Messina. 
May Mh. Egean Sea. A round-backed species of Delphinus with a 
large dorsal fin, to which the sailors gave the name of Porpoise, rolling 
near the ship ; three passed with amazing velocity, close under the bow 
where I was standing. 
May 5th. Several of them near the ship when we were close to Syra ; 
two rolling about with their young so near to them that the dorsal fins of 
the two individuals in each case appeared to belong to one animal : — they 
thus exhibited themselves rising to the surface and going down again 
several times with as much regularity as a pair of horses in harness. May 
not their appearance in this manner have given rise to the fable of their 
drawing the chariot of Amphitrite across the sea ? 
May 13 th. Dardanelles ; saw the same species at Koum Kali. 
May \*lth. Bosphorus ; several of the same, going northwards towards 
the Black Sea. This Delphinus was not either of Risso’s — D. ylobiceps, or 
D. Risso. Cuv. Hist. Nat. L. Ear. Merit! . tome iii. p. 23, pi. 1, f. 1,2. 
It is worthy of remark that no species of Delphinus (Linn.) appeared in 
the open sea between Marseilles and Malta or thence to the Levant. 
The Bottle-nosed Dolphin, Delphinus Tursio , Fabr., 
Can only be noticed positively as having twice occurred. 
Dr. J. E. Gray, in a paper on British Cetacea, published in the Annals 
of Nat. Hist, for February, 1846 (vol xvii. p. 84), mentioned having in 
his possession a drawing of one made by Mr. It. Templeton from a speci- 
men caught on the south coast of Ireland; and on 15th Sept., 1851, Dr. 
It. Ball wrote tome as follows : — “ I got a fine specimen of Delphinus Tursio 
taken here [Dublin] about the 5th inst., — the only one I ever saw. I 
have made a cast of it.” * 
In M‘Skimmin’s History of Carrickfergus it is observed, under the title 
Bal&na : — “ A very large fish is sometimes seen by the fishers, which they 
call a Bottlenose.” — It is uncertain, however, what species this may be. 
Only three individuals of the D. Tursio are noticed in Bell’s British 
Mammalia (1837) as having occurred on the coast of Great Britain, — one 
of these was taken on the coast near Berkeley (Hunter), another in the 
river Dort (Montagu), and the third in the river at Preston (Jenyns) : — 
a few years before 1835, when the Manual of British Vertebrate Animals 
was published, a fourth individual is mentioned in the latter work as taken 
in the Thames. — The following paragraph from the Preston Pilot was 
copied into the Northern Whig of Sept. 26th, 1840. 
“ A Dolphin. The inhabitants living in the vicinity of the old quay, at Lan- 
caster, were thrown into an unwonted state of activity and excitement early on 
Sunday last by the vagaries of a large sea-monster, which was jumping about, 
and spouting out jets of water, in the river Lune, a little below the old bridge. 
As soon as it got sufficiently light, all who could lay their hands on a gun were 
* Three others have since occurred. R. Ball, June, 1852. 
