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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



Mr. Russell J. Coles, whose contribu- 

 tions to the Museum's department of fishes 

 are well known, secured a fine specimen of the 

 spotted porpoise, Prodelphinus plagiodon 

 (Cope), during the past summer off the coast 

 of North Carolina. At the time of the cap- 

 ture a rough sea made getting possession of 

 the specimen after it had been harpooned 

 a task of difficulty and danger, and a less 

 persistent man than Mr. Coles would un- 

 doubtedly have cut the animal loose. After 

 his efforts were rewarded by getting the 

 animal ashore, he made a plaster mold and 

 took a complete series of photographs and 

 measurements; the flesh was then cut 

 away from the skeleton which was sent to 

 the Museum. The spotted porpoise is rela- 

 tively rare along the coast of our Southern 

 States, and the Museum has not previously 

 possessed even one skeleton representing its 

 genus. 



Commissioner George D. Pratt, of the 

 New York Conservation Commission, has 

 secured the services of Mr. Francis Harper 



of New York City to make a detailed study 

 of the fishing waters of Oneida County, New 

 York, as a basis for scientific working plans 

 for fish stocking and protection. The ap- 

 pointment is in furtherance of Commis- 

 sioner Pratt's plan for seeing that the product 

 of the State fish hatcheries is followed to its 

 ultimate destination, and that the proper 

 planting and protection of the millions of 

 fish annually produced in the State hatcheries 

 are assured. When completed in Oneida 

 County the work will be extended to other 

 parts of the State. Mr. Harper was formerly 

 engaged in private research work in the 

 department of ichthyology of the American 

 Museum. 



The Journal has been in receipt for some 

 time past of a small but steady stream of new 

 subscriptions from persons who have come 

 upon it quite fortuitously and to whom it was 

 hitherto unknown. In view of this and of 

 the fact that practically every subscriber 

 renews his subscription annually, an effort 

 is being made to bring the Journal to the 



Two views of the spotted porpoise {Prodelphinus plagiodon), whicli was taken during the summer of 19L5 

 by Mr. Russell J. Coles and presented to the American Museum, together with many photographs and a 

 Ijlasler mold made from the fresh specimen immediately after capture 



