112 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
PORPOISE. 
Hence the dolphin became one of Apollo’s symbols, and wove many a fiction of 
the rescue of Apollo’s favorites by means of the dolphin. The poet Phalanteus 
having been wrecked at sea, was safely carried ashore by a dolphin, since Apollo 
was the protector of poets! Phalanteus, after the custom of pre-historic antiquity, 
then founded the Italian town of Tarentium, although except for the interpo¬ 
sition of mythology he must have suffered from the lack of assistants. So, too, 
a dolphin saved Arion from the plottings of sailors. For having the bad habit of 
carrying with him the vast wealth of which he was possessed, Arion excited the 
cupidity of the sailors as he 
was voyaging from Tarentium 
to Corinth. Pleading for a last 
opportunity to exercise his musi¬ 
cal skill, Arion’s melodies drew 
together a school of fascinated 
dolphins (amongst whom doubt¬ 
less was the rescuer of Pha¬ 
lanteus), and having thrown 
himself into the sea, Arion was,, 
through the care of Apollo, 
carried triumphantly to Corinth 
by the obedient slaves of the 
beautiful god. 
The experience of Arion, 
as it will be remembered, was 
completed by the dealing out of 
poetical justice in the execution of the sailors and the securing of his slowly 
amassed wealth. The dolphin has been honored even in modern history, 
having given its name to the Princess of France, to one of the fairest 
princes of this sunny land, and to one of the best editions of the classics. 
Doubtless the harm¬ 
lessness of the dol¬ 
phin, his inferior value 
to the fisherman, his 
beauty of color, and 
the plaintiveness of 
his dying moan have 
united to make this 
creature a favorite 
theme for the sailor, 
the sea-going traveller, 
and the poet. The air bladder of the dolphin furnishes much of the isin¬ 
glass known to commerce, although the sturgeon also contributes, from which 
latter, however, the larger supply is obtained. A popular error has long been 
held that mica is a similar substance, whereas it is a mineral. 
The Sperm ’Whale (Physeter mcicrocephalus ), is the largest of the species, 
though not so long as the rorqual. It reaches a length of from seventy to eighty 
feet its head being at least a third of this distance. It is generally found in 
schools of a varying number and is a familiar sight to those who know the 
sea. Its remarkable endowment of mouth and teeth, and its ability to open 
common dolphin (Dolphinus delphis). 
