The oil procured from the fat surrounding the body of the Porpoise is of the purest kind, and the akin when carefully tanned and dressed is used for wearing apparel, and for coverings for carriages. The shoals of these creatures on the west coast of Ireland are immense, and might be well worth the attention of the neighbouring popula tion if furnished with boats and proper implements for their capture, and conversion to economic purposes. As an article of food the flesh was anciently esteemed, and considered worthy of the tables of the great Receipts for dressing it appear in the ' Forme of Cury,' com piled (elm 1390) by the master cooks of King Richard II. It appears to have been served in furmente,' in broth, and roasted, and was evidently used both fresh and salted. Several of them were on the board at the great feast holden at the ' intronazation' of George Nevelt, archbishop of York, in the reign of Edward IV. In Henry time it continued to be a royal dish, and was in fashion in the reign of Elizabeth. It appears to have been in those days generally presented as a roast with a sauce made of fine white bread-crumbe, mixed with vinegar and sugar. The Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis) was then considered so great a delicacy that, according to Dr. Cabin, one which was taken in his day was thought a present worthy of the duke of Norfolk, who distributed it amongst his friends: it was roasted and dressed with the porpeaseesaucalutabove mentioned. At a later period the Porpesse kept its ground on the table of Roman Catholics on fish-days and during Lent. Nor hare modern navigators found it undesirable food. Captain Coloett'a people, who fell in with numbers of them off the Mexican coast, mixed their flesh with their salt-pork—making excellent sausages, which formed their ordinary food. Captain Basil Hall speaks with some unction of a dish of porpease-cutlets, well separated from the invest ing lard and blubber, which was served at his table with such happy effect that the dish left his cabin empty.
The flesh of the porpesse is the Oreenlander'e great dainty, and ho quaffs its oil as the most delicious of draughts.
Grampus Curieri is the Delphinua griscus of Cuvier ; Norman !vireo of Lesson. It is an inhabitant of the North Sea, and has been taken off the coast of France, and also off the Isle of Wight a mu. ICJ. A specimen was taken at Nice, and described by MAIO.
G. Described by Dr. Gray in the Zoology of the Erebus and Terror. .
G. Sakaranta. Described by Schlegel in ' Fauna Japonica' as Sakamata Kuzira. It has been found off the coasts of Japan.
Globiocephalus &intro?, the Pilot-Whale, also known to sailors as the Black Whale, Howling Whale, Social Whale, and Bottle-Head It is the Delphian, globicep, of Cuvier, the Narwal Edente and Petit Cachalot of the French. It. is of a black colour, with a white streak from 'throat to vent. It is a native of the North Sea, and has been taken off the coast of Scotland. A skull in the British Museum measures 28 inches in length.
a intermtdius is the Black Fish of American sailors. It inhabits
the coasts of North America.
G. offinis, the Smaller Pilot-Whale. Its locality is unknown. A specimen exists in the museum of the College of Surgeons. It is the Delphinia metes of Owen.
G. siebordii is a native of the coasts of Japan, where it is called num-0 ota.
U maererhynchus is the Black Fish of the South Sea whalers. It inhabits the South Seas.
Orca Gladiator, the Killer. It is the Delphian* Orca of Linnaeus, Grampus of Hunter, Delphinus Grampus, and Large Grampus, of Owen. It inhabits the North Sea, and has been taken on various parts of the British coasts. There is the skull of one in tho Hunterian Collection at the Royal College of Surgeons which was killed at Greenwich in 1793.
0. erassiden, is a fossil species. It is described by Professor Owen in tho 'British Mammals and Birds' under the name of Phocerna cras sidens. A skull was found in the fens of Lincolnshire in 1843.
0. the Cape Killer, is the Ddphin olobiceps of Owen. It inhabits the Southern Pacific Ocean.
0. inlet-media is a smaller species, described by Dr. Gray in the Zoology of the Erebus and Terror.
Lagettorkunchus leueopleurus, the White-Sided Bottlenose. It is the Delp/anus Tursio of Knox. It is a native of the North Sea. The skeleton of a specimen taken in the Orkneys is in the museum of the University of Edinburgh.
L. albirosrris, White-Beaked Bottlenose. A specimen was taken off the coast of Norfolk in 1846.
L. Electra, the Electra. Described by Dr. Gray in the Zoology of -the Erebus and Terror.
L. ca•ruko albus. It is an inhabitant of the east coast of South America—Rio de In Plata.
L. Asia. Described by Dr. Gray in the Zoology of the Erebus and Terror. Locality unknown.
L. oaths& It inhabits the North Sean—Faroe Islands.
L. danculus. Described by Dr. Gray from a skull brought from the Pacific Ocean.
L. Thicolea. Described by Dr. Gray from n skull brought from the west coast of North America.
Ddphinaptcrus Pcronii. It is the Right Whale-Porpoise of the whalers. It is black, with the exception of the beak, pectoral fins, and under part of the body, which are white. It is found on the Brazil Bank, off New Guinea, and in the higher southern latitudes. There are two skulls in the museum at Paris. They live in largo shoals, and the flesh is esteemed a delicacy.
D. borealis. It inhabits the North Pacific Ocean. It has been described by Peale in the United States Exploring Expedition.
Delphinus. The English name for this genus is Dolphin, but as Dr. J. E. Gray observes :—" Most maritime persons call these enininle Bottlenmes, Bottlehends, Flounderheads, Grampuses, Porpoises, Por pesses or Porpoises, sometimes adding Whale to the name. They generally confine the name of Dolphin (most used by landsmen) to the Scomberoid Fish (Corpplurna), which changes colour in dying." [Convrii.ENA.1 We subjoin a synopsis of the characters with the localities of the species of this largo genus:— A. Head shortly beaked ; nose of skull moderate ; triangle or hinder part of beak elongate, produced before the teeth-line ; palate flat.