EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT 119 



succeeded in bringing to the Aquarium nine live porpoises. The 

 four younger animals, averaging about five feet in length, lived 

 only a few days ; but the five adults, averaging about eight feet 

 in length, are still alive and appear to be thriving (March 15, 

 1914). 



These animals were captured with a large seine and, as soon 

 as dragged out on the beach, were placed in a salt water pond 

 for twenty-four hours, when they were transferred to narrow, 

 eight-foot wooden tanks containing sufficient water to cover 

 them. Porpoises are blubber-covered animals and develop 

 enough heat to raise the temperature of the water so that it was 

 necessary to renew the cold water in the shipping tanks about 

 every six hours. The adults give little trouble during shipment, 

 while the young are exceedingly restless. 



The United States Weather Bureau kindly furnished a table 

 of mean temperatures of the ocean water at Cape Hatteras, 

 where large numbers of porpoises spend the winter, and these 

 temperatures— 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit, have been main- 

 tained in the large pool at the Aquarium where the porpoises are 

 kept. 



For a few days they did not feed at all, but soon began to 

 take live fishes. A couple of weeks after their arrival they were 

 feeding freely on herring and tomcods purchased in the market 

 and this has been their principal food ever since, the five ani- 

 mals consuming about ninety pounds a day. They are very lively 

 and keep swimming actively day and night. They frequently 

 indulge in the familiar porpoise play, leaping entirely out of the 

 water. Within the past month they have given evidence that 

 they will breed in captivity if their lives are not shortened by 

 ^heir present indoor life. 



The porpoises now in the Aquarium are the only ones in 

 captivity, and constitute the most interesting exhibit to the gen- 

 eral public ever made in the Aquarium. The specimens were 

 presented on the beach by Mr. Joseph K. Nye, of New Bedford, 

 Massachusetts, the proprietor of the Hatteras porpoise fishery, 

 and were brought to New York at the expense of the New York 

 Zoological Society. The entire cost of placing these porpoises in 

 the Aquarium was less than two hundred fifty dollars. 



Mr. Sanborn, of the Zoological Park, was successful in mak- 

 ing excellent motion pictures, showing the entire process of cap- 

 turing and transferring the porpoises, and the pictures were 

 exhibited at the annual meeting of the Zoological Society to an 



