FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING . 33 



attracted by her cliarms and follow her in crowds. When she 

 has walked through all the streets she readies the banks of the 

 river, dons her fish-like mien, and plunges in suddenly. The 

 youths in hot pursuit, oblivious of their danger, fall down the 

 steep and perish in the water. 



Such a transformation as we have indicated, though certainly 

 with some radical modifications, has taken place in the eyes of 

 some capitalists of Philadelphia in regard to one of the porpoises 

 of our own coast. They think they see in this common porpoise 

 not a useless creature, but an animal from which great profit 

 can be derived if proper means are taken to secure it. They 

 have, therefore, undertaken to utilize this animal for industrial 

 purposes. It is not the first time in the history of industries 

 that porpoises have been made use of. Inhabitants of all Arctic 

 countries, as the members of this Society are aware, are accus- 

 tomed to feed upon porpoises, especially the smaller species, 

 and to utilize especially their flesh and oil. In this country, too, 

 certain species of porpoise have been employed at one time or 

 another in connection with industrial pursuits. 



About 1790 there was quite an important fishery for the 

 capture of porpoises on Long Island. This was in operation for 

 several years, but eventually failed to yield a profit. There is 

 now a similar fishery, if such it may be termed, not only on our 

 own coast at Cape Cod, but also on Norwegian shores. The 

 object of capture in this instance, however, is a different species 

 of the family of dolphin — namely, the blackfish. This animal is 

 occasionally stranded on our shores, and usually is seen in herds 

 comprising 400, 500 or 600 individuals. From these cetaceans 

 valuable products are obtained, the most important of which is 

 oil. It is a rather curious fact that many of the most important 

 fisheries are carried on for the capture of animals other than 

 fish. The whale, for whose capture so much energy is devoted^ 

 and so large an amount of capital invested, is not a fish. Again, 

 the object of the seal fishery is a mammal: of the oyster fishery 

 a mollusk, as also of the peail fishery; of the lobster fishery, a 

 crustacean; and it now seems as if we are to see the fishery rise 

 to considerable importance, whose object of capture is not a fish, 

 the common dolphin of our coast. The species, Tursiops tursio, 



