160 NATORAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

that he has been often confounded with it. He is, however,
much larger, sometimes measuring from twenty to twenty-five
feet in length. The body is roundish, growing gradually less
towards the tail; the nose is long and pointed, the skin
smooth, the back black or dusky blue, becoming white towards
the belly. He is entirely destitute of gills, or any similar
aperture, but respires and also spouts water through a pipe
of semi-circular form placed on the upper part of the head.
There are several varieties of dolphins, including the Long-
nosed Dolphins of the rivers of Asia and South America and
the Classical Dolphin of the Mediterranean (Delphinus delphis)
The former are separately classified, and the family of the
latter includes the White Whale, the Narwhal, the Common
Porpoise and the Grampus. The dolphin is gregarious in its
habits, herding and travelling in large shoals. It may some-
times be seen sporting in the bays and rivers of New York
and is always a pretty sight.
The white Lhe White Whale (Beluga catodon) is the whale
Whale which Dr. R. Brown calls she whale of Green-
land. It is the whale which the Greenlander and the Eskimo
find so valuable for its oil and flesh, the latter of which they
dry for winter use. They are sometimes called sea pigs, from
a fancied resemblance they bear to the pig when floun-
dering in the sea, and sometimes sea canaries, on account
of their peculiar whistle, which resembles that of a bird.
The Nerwhal. The narwhal (Monodon monoceros) is found
frequently in company with the white whale, and inhabits
much the same geographical area. It is distinguished by the
possession of a tusk, the aim and purpose of which has been
much debated. “It has been supposed to use it,” says Dr.
Brown, “to stir up its food from the bottom, but in such a
case the female would be sadly at aloss. Fabricius thought
that it was to keep the holes open in the ice during the
winter; and the following occurrence seems to support this
view. In April, 1860, a Greenlander was travelling along the