Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/740

 720 PORPOISE PORSENA active, living in shoals or flocks, and are fre- quently seen swimming and playing about ves- sels, running races with them, and leaping out of water. Their food consists chiefly of fishes and cephalopod mollusks; their flesh, dark- colored and gorged with blood, was once con- Common Porpoise (Phocaena communis). sidered a delicacy, and is now often eaten by sailors ; their blubber yields a very fine oil, and their skin makes an excellent leather. The common porpoise (P. communis, Cuv.) is from 4 to 6 ft. long, bluish black above with violet or greenish reflections, and white beneath ; a little behind the middle of the back is a trian- gular cutaneous fold or dorsal fin ; teeth 20 to 24 on each side in both jaws, compressed lat- erally, and curved somewhat backward; the lower jaw the longer; the pupil is V-shaped reversed, and the tongue festooned all round ; the skin is smooth, perfectly destitute of hair and even of eyelashes, and beneath it is a layer of fat about an inch thick ; there are no lips, and the small eyes are nearly in a line with the opening of the mouth ; the opening of the ear is exceedingly small ; neither the dorsal fin nor the tail has any internal bones, and the former consists of fat and is incapable of motion ; the pectorals are brownish, though arising from a white part of the body; the brain is large, with numerous and deep convolutions over the cer- ebellum. There are four stomachs, and even six if all the constricted portions be counted as such ; the walls of the first are strongly wrin- kled, of the second very thick with longitudi- nal wrinkles of a pulpy consistence, the third membranous with numerous small pores, and the fourth wrinkled like the first ; the intes- tine grows smaller to the anus, and the caecum is absent. Gestation continues six months, and a single young one is produced at a birth, about 20 in. long, which is suckled and protected by the mother, as in other mammals ; it can provide for itself at a year old. This species is common all about the coasts of Europe, ex- tending even to the icy seas ; they generally keep near the shores, where they root about with their snouts like hogs; they are often seen rolling and tumbling in the water, as they rise to the surface to breathe with a puffing sound ; they look in the water like large black pigs, whence their common names. They pur- sue herrings, mackerel, salmon, and other fish- es which swim in shoals, sometimes going far up rivers in their pursuit ; they have been seen in the Thames at London, and in the Seine at Rouen, and even at Paris. The common por- poise of the American coast, formerly consid- ered the same as the P. communis of Europe, was described as distinct by Prof. Agassiz in 1850, under the name of P. Americana. In size and color the two species are very much alike ; the general form of the skull is differ- ent, the posterior surface in the European spe- cies being nearly vertical, but in the American much curved; the teeth of the latter are di- vided on the broad faces near the summit by grooves almost into three lobes, those of the former being smooth ; the dorsal fin in the American is serrated and furnished with very characteristic tubercles, which are not men- tioned in the descriptions of the European; the temporal groove of the skull is as wide as long in P. Americana, but narrower and ob- long in P. communis. This species is common on our coast, chiefly in spring and summer, appearing in pursuit of the herring and other migratory fish ; it should not be confounded with the cetacean called the sea porpoise, a true dolphin, and only seen off soundings. In former years it was captured in great numbers near the E. end of Long Island, in large seines from which they were harpooned and dragged on shore; from the blubber of each animal about six gallons of oil are obtained. See " Marine Mammals of the Northwest Coast," by Charles M. Scammon (New York, 1874). PORPORA, Nicolo, an Italian composer, born in Naples about 1686, died there in 1767. He was instructed by Scarlatti, and first brought himself into notice at Vienna, where he gained the approbation of the emperor Charles VI. In 1726 he entered upon a career of great suc- cess at Venice, and in 1728 went to Dresden as director of the theatre and of music in the court chapel. In 1731 he established at Naples a school of vocalism, in which Farinelli, Caffa- relli, and other celebrated singers were edu- cated. In 1733 he was engaged by a party opposed to Handel to direct a rival opera in London ; but, although supported by Senesino, Cuzzoni, and Farinelli, he failed to make any impression and returned to Italy. About 1750 he established himself in Vienna, where Haydn came under his influence; and subsequently he became principal master at the Incurabili con- servatory in Venice. Late in life he retired to Naples, and died in indigence. His works comprise 50 operas and a great number of masses, cantatas, sonatas, &c. He figures in George Sand's novel " Consuelo." PORSENA, or Porsenna, Lars, a king of Clusium in Etruria, to whom, according to legendary Roman history, the Tarquins in the second year after their expulsion from Rome applied