T11E TREl'AM! FISHEKY. 



815 



The comparative merits of (lie European and American leeches have been discussed in connec- 

 tion with their natural history. 



Table nhoicliig tin: r .rtfiit inn/ rulur </ Ilir import ami c.rp/n-1 Irinlr in lm-li,-H of \/ir York Ijiti/, far 1880 (estimatt<n.~ 

 No. iui(unUMl. Value. N'n. i-\pmlril. Value. 



"", imn $KI, .-,ini ion. linn f.i MO 



Tablf showing I/H mint of furnijn h-n-ln-x imported into tin- Uiiitrd Xltitix from July 1, lf-71, In July 1, 1880, according to the 



custom-house i't'i'orrt*.\ 



Table showing the ralne of foreign Iwches exported from the United Slates to other 



18- W 0, according to the custom-house records. 



lrirx. fnnn July 1, 1877, to July I 



2. THE TREPANG FISHERY. 



THE TREPANG FISHEEY AT KEY WEST. 



THE TREPANG AS AN ARTICLE OF FOOD. The preparation tor market of this soft echino- 

 derm, variously designated as holothurian, sea-cucumber, sea-slug, beche de iner, and trepaiijr, 

 was, as the following account will show, once attempted on the Florida coast; but either from 

 want of financial success or for other reasons, it was soon abandoned. The trepang is commonly 

 used as food in China, which country derives the most of its supplies from the waters about 

 some of the South Pacific islands, where one or more suitable species abound, and are prepared 

 for the Chinese market in large quantities. It is questionable whether Americans could ever be 

 induced to regard the trepang with favor as an article of food, although Dr. William Stimpson 

 states that a New England species, J'entacta frondosa, when made into a soup, is very palatable. 

 It was, however, for the purpose of supplying the Chinese trade that the Florida industry was 



The figures an- nirni.shril by Mr. Herman Witte, of New York. The quantity exported is included in the 

 quantity imported, as only foreign leeches are exported from this country. 



Tlie amounts given in the column of "All other ports," belong undoubtedly to New York, and there is evidently 

 an error in the enumeration for 1-7-. 



