ZOOLOGY. 349 



that which is required for the manufacture of other skins, and is the 

 result of a long series of careful experiments, by Mr. Tetu, of Riviere 

 Ouelle, who' has recently obtained a patent for the invention. The 

 leather, in its ordinary form, has the thickness of sole-leather ; but its 

 peculiar and valuable property is the uniformity and closeness of its 

 texture, which enables it to be split into three or four parts, each of 

 which, when dressed, has the smoothness and uniformity of surface 

 which usually belongs to grain leather. Thin sections of it resemble 

 the finest kid, and are employed for the fabrication of gloves. Other 

 important characters of this leather are its great strength when com- 

 pared with calf-skin ; a peculiar elasticity, which obviates the ordinary 

 tendency to wrinkle and fold ; and, to a great degree, irnperviousness 

 to water. Such are the general features of this discovery, which, from 

 the abundance in which the animals are found, promises to be of very 

 high importance in an industrial and commercial point of view. The 

 new process of M. Tetu has also been successfully applied to the skin of 

 the common whale of the gulf, which yields an excellent coarse leather. 



ON THE HABITS AND LOCALITIES OF THE WHALE. 



AN official statement has been issued by Lieut. Maury, of the Na- 

 tional Observatory, giving information to the whaling interest, of great 

 value, in relation to the habits and localities of the whale at different 

 periods of the year. This information is published preparatory to the 

 issuing of a chart, now in the course of preparation. The facts have 

 been gleaned from the log-books of many of our whale-ships, and show 

 when and where our whale-men have searched for whales, when and 

 where they have found them; with what abundance, and whether in 

 schools or alone. The chart divides the ocean into districts of 5 deg. 

 latitude by 5 deg. longitude ; perpendicularly through each of which 

 districts are twelve columns for the twelve months ; and horizontally 

 through each of which districts are three lines : one to show the num- 

 ber of days that have been spent in each month in every district, and 

 the two others to show the number of days in which whales, sperm or 

 right, have been seen. 



In regard to the information afforded by the chart, Lieut. Maury 

 remarks : " As to whether the right whales are to be found in the high 

 northern latitudes in our winter, or in high southern latitudes in our 

 summer, when the whalemen do not visit such latitudes, of course the 

 chart does not show. Thus, between 50 and 60 N., 130 and 155 

 TV., we only know that whales are abundant from May to September, 

 inclusive. We know not as to the other months, because the night 

 and cold then drive the whale-men from this part of the ocean, 

 and we cannot say anything as to the numbers in which the fish resort 

 there then. The charts are therefore silent on the subject. It is the 

 same at the south, in its seasons ; that is, when it is winter there the 

 whalemen abandon the high latitudes, and seek their game in more 

 genial climates. 



" But, seeing the abundance of whales in the Greenland and Arctic 

 seas in our summer season, and seeing that they have not been sought 



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