Note 52 — NOTES ON CERTAIN FISHES AND MARINE ANIMALS FOUND IN NORFOLK.

There can be no doubt that the Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis) is here referred to, and indeed this species might reasonably be expected to be met with on our coast, as its range extends at least as far to the north as the Scandinavian waters, but so far as the writer is aware Browne's is the only record of its having been met with in Norfolk. The White-beaked Dolphin (D. albirostris) is not unfrequent, but it is clear that Browne does not refer to that species.

In the "Vulgar Errors," Browne devotes a whole chapter (chapter ii. of the fifth book) to a learned treatise on the "Picture of Dolphins," and in one of the letters to his son Edward (Sloane MSS., 1847), dated June 14th [1676?], he writes feelingly as an anatomist, evidently fearing that a specimen then available might be wasted, instead of being reserved for scientific purposes; for, says he, "if the dolphin were to be showed for money in Norwich, little would bee got; if they showed it in London they are like to take out the viscera, and salt the fish, and then the dissection will be unconsiderable." He then refers to the dolphin "opened when the King was here," and describes its anatomical peculiarities, adding that Dame Browne cooked the flesh "so as to make an excellent savory dish of it," and that "collars" thereof (steaks cut transversely) being sent to the King, who was then at Newmarket, for his table, they "were well liked of." It is evident therefore that he was present at the dissection of two of these animals.