THE WORLD OF THE BOTTLENOSED DOLPHIN

Deflating the puffery of Lilly and his sea lab researchers (though welcoming the funds generated by the attendant publicity), the Caldwells, affiliated with Florida's Marineland, estimate dolphin mentality to be ""comparable to that of an average dog."" They promise a welcome corrective to the ""little men in wet suits"" theories, but their diffuse, poorly organized data on dolphin physiology requires patient sifting and the garbled discussion of taxonomy concludes ""We have no suggestions (for applying common names to cetaceans) except to try to follow the middle of the road."" There are however conscientious explanations of respiration, heat exchange, echolocation; detailed instructions on how to preserve and transport a live bottlenose should you find one on the beach (this is ""extremely unusual""); and finally a limp paragraph on ""Commerce"" (there's hardly any). The world of the dolphin is, at best, a misnomer since the observed environment hardly extends beyond the tanks of Marineland.