Chapter XV Aquatic Mammals 



THE aquatic mammals are not as 

 numerous as they were when the world 

 was young. They have proved far too 

 useful to man to be allowed to live in 

 comparative peace, the depredations in 

 their ranks made by climate and natural 

 enemies being as nothing compared with 

 the havoc wrought amongst them in the 

 name of commerce. Efforts are now 

 being made possibly too late to con- 

 serve a few survivors. 



Aquatic mammals must have been in 

 existence for at least two million years, 

 and it is a matter for congratulation that 

 we are at last lavishing money on their 

 conservation and study. Recently the 

 survey ship the Discovery weighed anchor 

 in the Thames giving visitors an oppor- 

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