300 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITDTION, 1942 



porpoise unlike any living member of this group, two different 

 kinds of sperm whales, and three kinds of whalebone whales. One 

 of these whalebone whales {M orenocetus parvus) is the oldest geo- 

 logically of all known members of the family of right whales (Balae- 

 nidae). The other two represent cetotheres, the precursors of the 

 living furrow-throated whalebone whales. 



Members of the family of river porpoises (Iniidae) ranged north- 

 ward in the Atlantic Ocean to Chesapeake Bay and in the Pacific 

 Ocean to San Francisco Bay during the Miocene. The late Miocene 

 or early Pliocene Piso Entreriano exposed along the river banks in 

 the vicinity of Parana, Argentina, has furnished at least five kinds 

 of extinct iniid river porpoises. From these were derived a number 

 of succeeding types. In the course of geologic time most of these 

 types of ancient iniid porpoises disappeared, leaving only two sur- 

 vivors, the white flag porpoise in Tung Ting Lake, Hunan Province, 

 China, and the bouto in the Amazon and its tributaries. 



Evidence is still lacking in regard to the main details of the devel- 

 opmental history of the pinnipeds. Nevertheless, it is now certain 

 that at least one relative of the Recent hair seals {PHonodelpMs 

 rovereti) was included in this late Miocene or early Pliocene fauna. 



Remains of whalebone whales have been found in rocks of Pliocene 

 age near Coquimbo, Chile, and also on the plains east of the port of 

 Lomas, Peru. 



Ear bones and other miscellaneous skeletal elements representing 

 one or more kinds of extinct whalebone whales have been found in 

 the Pleistocene Pampean formation of Argentina. In contemporary 

 deposits at Olivos in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, a 

 relative of the southern sea lion was obtained. In the more recent 

 deposits of Argentina, bones representing a close relative of this 

 sea lion seem to occur more frequently. 



SEALING IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE 



We now come to the period when man by his interference radically 

 changed the original aspect of the existing marine fauna. We are 

 so overwhelmed today with problems associated with the marketing 

 of ever-increasing surpluses of cereals and livestock products that 

 few of us appreciate the situation confronting early colonists in 

 the New World. Fats and oils were in constant demand and the 

 colonists were obliged to utilize all available resources. Consequently, 

 bison were slaughtered for tallow, while oil suitable for burning in 

 lamps was readily obtained from seals, porpoises, and whales. Un- 

 productive soil, the absence of remunerative employment in the vicin- 

 ity of the settlements, and the increasing demand for oils and fats 

 made sealing and whaling an attractive occupation for residents of 



