THOUGH SO often incorrectly painted as being of the shape of the letter S. the Dolphin is almost straight, the back being very slightly incurvated, and the body slender; the nose is long, narrow, and pointed, with a broad transverse band, or projection of the skin on its upper part. From the shape of the nose, the animal has been called the Sea-goose. The mouth is very wide, and has twentyone teeth in the upper, and nineteen in the lower jaw, somewhat above an inch long, conic at the upper end, sharp pointed, and bending a little in. They are placed at a small distance from each other; so that when the mouth is shut, the teeth of both jaws lock into each other; the spout hole is placed in the middle of the head; the tail is semilunar; the skin is smooth; the colour of the back and sides dusky; the belly whitish; it swims with great swiftness, and its prey is fish, but particularly cod, herrings, and flat fish. The Dolphin is longer and more slender than the porpesse, measuring nine or ten feet in length, and two in diameter.

All this species have fins on the back; very large heads; and resemble each other in their appetites, their manners, and conformation, being equally voracious, active, and roving. No fish could escape them, but from the awkward position of their mouth, which is placed in a manner under

*This is a distinct animal from the small fish which sailors call by the same name.

the head. Their own agility is so great as to prevent them from being often taken, and they seldom remain a moment above water; their too eager pursuit after prey occasionally, however, exposes them to danger, as they will sometimes follow the object of their pursuit even into the nets of the fishermen.

A shoal of Dolphins will frequently attend the course of a ship for the scraps that are thrown overboard, or the barnacles adhering to their sides. A shoal of them followed the ships of Sir Richard Hawkins upwards of a thousand leagues. Their gambols and evolutions on the surface of the water are often very amusing.* A Dolphin

* Occasionally a troop of them may be seen scudding along, rising in quick succession as if anxious each to get in advance of the other : while again, a single individual may be observed successively rising and falling in the same way, as if engaged in the act of catching a prey.

In this way, shoals of Dolphins may be seen almost every day, and at any hour feeding or sporting in the bay and rivers near the city of New York, where we have sometimes enjoyed an opportunity of observing from the wharf, a large shoal of them moving down the Hudson river with the tide : some plunging along as if in haste, others apparent. ly at play, and others very slowly rising to the surface for breath, and as gradually disappearing, allowing their dorsal fin to remain for a considerable time above the surface.

The appearance of a shoal of these animals, at sea, moving in the same direction, is considered by experienced mariners as an indication of an approaching storm, which very certainly follows their appearance. Falconer, in his beautiful poem of the Shipwreck thus describes such a circumstance.

"Now to the north from burning Afric's shore,

A troop of porpesses their course ex; lore;

In curling wreaths they gambol on the tide,
Now bound aloft, now down the billow glide:
Their tracks awhile the hoary waves retain
That burn in sparkling trails along the main-

has been known to spring forward more than twenty feet at a single bound. They inhabit the European and Pacific

ocean.

The flesh, though tolerably well tasted, is dry and insipid: the best parts are near the head. It is seldom eaten but when young and tender. Dolphins are said to change their colour before they die, and again after they are dead. Many fabulous stories have been told of the Dolphin, which has often been thus represented:

In its general form the Porpesse, or Porpus, very much resembles the Dolphin. It is, however, somewhat less in size, and has a snout much broader and shorter. It is generally from six to seven feet in length; its body is thick towards the head, but grows slender towards the tail, forming the figure of a cone. In each jaw are fortyeight teeth, small, sharp-pointed, and moveable; and so placed that the teeth of one jaw lock into those of the other. The eyes are small, as is the spout-hole at the top of the head. In colours the back is black, and the belly whitish,

These fleetest coursers of the finny race,

When threatening clouds th' ethereal vault deface,
Their rout to leeward still sagacious form,

To shun the fury of the approaching storm."-Canto II. § II.

Godman.

but they sometimes vary.-Porpesses are very numerous in all the British seas, but more particularly in the river St. Lawrence, in America; where there is a white kind. They are seldom seen except in troops of six or seven to thirty and upwards, and, like the dolphin, they are very agile and sportive. In the most tempestuous weather they can surmount the waves, and pursue their course without injury. Seamen have a superstitious detestation of them, because they believe their appearance to be ominous of approaching storms.

These animals live chiefly on the smaller fish: at the season when mackerel, herrings, pilchards, and salmon appear, the Porpesse swarms; and such is its violence in pursuit of its prey, that it will follow a shoal of small fish up a fresh water river, from whence it finds a difficulty to return. These creatures have been often taken in the river Thames, both above and below London Bridge; and it is curious to observe with what dexterity they avoid their pursuers, and how momentarily they recover their breath above the water. It is usual to spread four or five boats over the part of the river where they are seen, and to fire at them the instant they rise. One Porpesse yields about a hogshead of oil, and therefore renders its capture an object of consideration.

It is said that, whenever a Porpesse happens to be wounded, all the rest of its companions will immediately fall upon and devour it.

88

CHAP. VIII.

Of Cartilaginous Fishes... Of the SHARK...The White Shark... The Blue, the Long-tailed, the Basking, the Hammer-headed, and the Angel Shark... The Remora...The Pilot Fish ...The Dogfish and its Varieties...The Sawfish... The RAY... The Skate...The Rough-Ray...The Thornback...Manner of fishing for Flat Fish...The Sting Ray... The Torpedo... The Sea Devil...The Sea Eagle...The LAMPREY... The STURGEON... The Isinglass Fish...The ANGLER...The DIODON, or Sun Fish...The oblong and short Diodon...The SEA PORCUPINE...The LUMP-SUCKER...The Sea Snail... The PIPE-FISH...The HIPPOCAMPUS...The GALLEY FISH.

CARTILAGINOUS FISHES.

THE first great distinction which the cartilaginous tribe of fishes exhibits is, in having cartilages or gristles instead of bones. The size of all fishes increases with age; but from the pliancy of the bones in this tribe, they seem to have no bounds placed to their dimensions: and it is supposed that they grow larger every day till they die.

Cartilaginous fishes unite the principal properties of both the other classes in their conformation: like the cetaceous tribes, they have organs of hearing, and lungs: like the spinous kinds, they have gills, and a heart without a partition.

From this structure of their gills, these animals are enabled to live a longer time out of water than other fishes. The cartilaginous shark, or ray, live some hours after they are taken; while the spinous herring or mackerel expire a few minutes after they are brought on shore. Some of this class bring forth their young alive; and some bring forth eggs, which are afterwards brought to maturity. In