C E T A C E A 343 



which mollusks, crustaceans and other food are strained from the 

 water. It was formerly used extensively in the manufacture of whips, 

 corset stays, umbrella ribs, hoops, coverings for telescopes and other 

 tubes, imitation hair cloth and various other articles, 1 for which cheaper 

 and better substitutes are now known, though there is still a demand 

 for the lessened supply. 



The flesh of both whales and porpoises is used as food for human 

 beings. 2 Porpoise meat was a favorite Lenten food during the Middle 

 Ages. 3 The skins of both whales and porpoises are made into leather, 

 even the intestines of the whales being used for that purpose. 4 After 

 all these products have been saved, the remainder of the whales' car- 

 casses is made into fertilizer, bone-meal and food for cattle. 5 



"The cetaceans are entirely carnivorous, and their food generally 

 consists of small mollusks, shrimps and fishes." 6 The food of the 

 sperm whale consists largely of squids and cuttlefishes. 7 Bristles identi- 

 fied as facial vibrissae of a seal were found in ambergris supposed to 

 have been taken from a sperm whale. 8 One hump-backed whale con- 

 tained from 1 500 to 3000 pounds of sardines and a miscellaneous lot 

 of smelt, anchovies, shrimps and squids; a sperm whale's stomach 

 contained a lo-foot shark, a piece of fur seal skin and a bunch of 

 fish-hooks, and one killer whale at Pribilof Islands contained 18 and 

 another contained 24 young fur seals. 9 One gray whale's mouth con- 

 tained shrimps; 10 humpbacks contained shrimps and 6 contained "sar- 

 dines," probably including various small fishes; 16 finbacks contained 

 shrimps and 5 contained "sardines," some containing about three bar- 

 rels of small, mackerel-like fishes. 10 



Modern science has affected the whaling industry, as it has almost 

 everything else, by providing more effective apparatus. Steamships 



1 Stevenson, Whalebone : Its production and utilization, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries 

 Document No. 626, 1907. 



2 Radcliffe, Whales and porpoises as food, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Economic 

 Circular, No. 38, 1918. 



8 Jennison, Natural history: animals, p. 151, 1927. 



4 Prince, The whaling industry and the Cetacea of Canada, Gov. Ptg. Office, 

 Ottawa, Special Repts., 1926. 



5 Bower and Aller, Kept. U. S. Fish Comm. for 1914, Appendix x, pp. 58-64. 

 "Stone and Cram, American animals, pp. II, 18, 1902. 



7 Stevenson, Aquatic products in arts and industries, Kept. U. S. Fish Comm. for 

 1902, p. 248. 



8 Murphy, Seals as sperm whale food, Journ. Mammalogy, v, 132, 1924. 



* Evermann, The conservation and proper utilization of our natural resources, Sci- 

 entific Monthly, xv, 309-310, 1922. 



"Howell and Huey, Food of the gray and other whales, Journ. Mammalogy, 

 xi, 321-322, 1930. 



