Page:Mammalia (Beddard).djvu/397

 pterygoids are short, and there are thirty-two teeth in each half of each jaw.

Feresia is known from two skulls which are provided with ten to twelve teeth in each half of each jaw. It is intermediate between Globicephalus, Grampus, and Lagenorhynchus, according to Sir W. Flower.

The genus Delphinus contains the Dolphin, D. delphis. The genus may be characterised as follows:—Teeth small and numerous, forty-seven to sixty-five. Vertebral formula C 7, D 14 or 15, L 21 or 22, Ca 30 to 32. The atlas and axis are fused, the rest free. The palatal border of the maxillae is deeply grooved. The fins are falcate; the beak long and distinct.

The Common Dolphin of the Mediterranean shows so many variations of colour, slight differences in the proportions of the bones of the skull, and in the number of the teeth, that it has been divided up into at least seventeen "species." But M. Fischer, who has studied many of these forms, does not admit them, and most students of this group of mammals follow him in the matter. The Dolphin is and has been the most familiar of Cetaceans; in consequence it has accumulated much anecdote of a mythical character. The extreme intelligence and goodwill towards man assigned to this creature by the ancients are possibly due to the anomaly of a creature ostensibly a fish showing many of the characters of higher animals. Its unfishlike intelligence baffled the early observers, who at once endowed it with especially advanced attributes. Hence the stories of Arion and others. The leaping of the Dolphin out of the water is exemplified in many Mediterranean coins and coats of arms; the heraldic dolphin is represented with an arched back as in leaping. The Dolphin reaches a length of some 7 feet, and appears to be world-wide in range. Possibly distinct is D. longirostris, characterised, as the name denotes, by the very long beak; it has also more teeth and is a native of Malabar. D. roseiventris again may be a third species of Delphinus. It comes from Torres Straits, and has the under parts rosy in colour.

The genus Prodelphinus has, like Delphinus, a distinct beak; but it has not the grooved maxillaries. No other character of importance appears to separate it from Delphinus.