526 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
quents the coast of Lower California. It is black throughout, paling, however, 
on the under parts. 
The Mediterranean Dolphin (. Delphinns de/phis) is naturally the dolphin 
of dolphins, since it has had so many Homers to celebrate its praises as an 
Achilles. As an offset to its glories, as described by the poets, fabulists and 
sentimentalists, it is a great destroyer of mackerel, which it pursues even to 
the coasts of England and of France. As u no one is a hero to his own 
valet,” the Mediterranean dolphin receives but scant praise from the fishermen. 
The Pacific Dolphin (. Delphinus bairdii) is slender in form, and has a long 
slim muzzle or snout. It is parti-colored, being dark-green above, gray on 
the sides and below, and with white streaks above the mouth, and others run¬ 
ning from the corners of the mouth to the fins, while the belly is provided 
with a large, lance-shaped white patch. 
The Ganges Dolphin (. Platanista gangetica ) has narrow jaws well supplied 
with fanged teeth, and, as its name suggests, prefers the river to the ocean. 
The species found in the Indus is known as the Indus Dolphin (. Platan¬ 
ista indi) , and that of Bolivia as the Dolphin of the Amazon (. Inia geojfroyi). 
Partaking of the same nature as the dolphin, with which it is frequently 
confounded, is the Coryphene, a somewhat larger fish and also more beautiful; 
in fact, our description of the changing colors and magnificent splendor of the 
dolphin applies more appropriately to the coryphene. The porpoise is also quite 
frequently mistaken for the dolphin, owing to the fact that their gamboling 
movements in the water are almost identical. One particular difference between 
the two is found in the fact that while the dolphin is purely carnivorous and, 
we may say, cleanly in its habits, the porpoise is something of a scavenger, 
and roots in the mud like a hog, feeding at times on worms, snails and bur¬ 
rowing mollusks, though it also commits great ravages among the fish. They 
are very sociable, and are the most familiar objects one beholds at sea. During 
a stay of some weeks at the mouth of the Mississippi, I made several short 
voyages out on the Gulf of Mexico; on each trip I met great schools of por¬ 
poises and amused myself with the somewhat cruel sport of lying in the prow 
of the boat and shooting the animals as they rolled up within a few feet of 
me. But in every instance where I succeeded in hitting one—I used only a 
small pistol—the creature would give voice to a kind of grunt and immediately 
the herd would cease rising and not another would be seen until a new school 
appeared. The grunt was evidently a note of warning. 
The Manatus, Dugong and Lamantin are all herbivorous and their flesh 
is excellent food, not inferior to beef or veal. In the Malay Archipelago the 
dugong principally abounds, and on account of the affection which the mother 
bears for its young, it is there called the water-mother. Not only does it 
exhibit rare maternal devotion, but while suckling its young, the mother holds 
it to her breast by means of her flippers in the most loving way. When 
attacked she covers her young with her body and will invariably sacrifice her 
life in its defence rather than abandon it. The three species are quite similar 
in their habits, though confined to widely-separated districts—the lamantins 
being peculiar to the South American coast, the manatus to Africa, and the 
dugong to the Malay coasts. 
The Stellar, (also called sea-calf, sea-cow and sea-bull ), found chiefly in 
the Kamtchatka seas, resembles the dugong, but its habits are little known. 
