DOLPHIN, a group of cetaceans belong ing to the family Delphinide. The common species (Delphinus delphis) is found chiefly in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic Ocean. It is from six to eight feet long; the body tapers toward the crescent-shaped tail, which is about a foot broad. The blow-hole is also crescent-shaped; and the beak is usually about six inches long. The dolphin is blackish on the back, and white below, the sides being gray. The female produces but one at a time, and de votes herself assiduously to caring for it There are numerous species of dolphin, each confined, apparently, to a comparatively narrow range. All are voracious, and feed on other fish and crustaceans, and are said to eat even the dis-, abled and feeble of their own kind. They live in herds or "schools,* and may be seen by ocean voyagers playing about the vessels. They will leap in graceful curves, into the air, make sud den descents into and through the waves, fol lowed by a track of foam. Then they will
appear, show their slender back-fins, expose their broad tails as they plunge below the water; and almost before one has missed them, they will rise on the other side of the ship. They are a source of pleasure to the ocean traveler; and furnish more substantial gratifica tion to the sailors, who eat their flesh with much relish after their usual rations of salt-pork. The grampus, the porpoise and many of the so called whales, such as the white-whale, the killer-whale and others, are related genera ; as are also the soosoo of the Ganges, and the bouto of the Amazon, which inhabit fresh water in stead of the ocean. The dolphin gave the name to Dauphine, one of the provinces of France, from which the "dauphin,* the heir-apparent to the French throne, derived his title. Consult Beddard, 'A Book of Whales' (1900).