PRIMATES 345 



shown that next to man the greatest enemy of the gray whale is the 

 orca." 1 ''They are the only whales which eat Mammalia, not only 

 devouring the largest fish, but seals and all other dolphins, porpoises 

 and large whales are the main objects of their gluttonous rapine. 

 Though the old walrus is safe from them, the young are greedily eaten. 

 . . . From the maw of one of these killers Eschricht states that 13 

 porpoises and 14 seals were extracted/' 17 (young seals, doubtless, as 

 the orca itself was only 16 feet long). The statement that the killers 

 are the only whales that eat mammals is subject to doubt, as there is 

 evidence, noted in a preceding paragraph, indicating that seals are 

 eaten by the sperm whale, whose "throat is capacious enough to swal- 

 low a man." 18 



Porpoises and dolphins are hunted chiefly for the skins and oil. 19 

 In 1887, 20,000 porpoise skins were obtained along the Atlantic Coast 

 of the United States, which was the largest catch on that coast at 

 least up to 1902, the green hides bringing $2 a side. However, the 

 commercial "porpoise leather" then being sold in the English markets 

 was the beluga, 20 or white whale. Porpoises and dolphins are said to 

 feed chiefly on fishes, though Aflalo says that the Risso dolphin proba- 

 bly feeds on squids and cuttlefishes. 21 



ORDER PRIMATES APES, BABOONS, MONKEYS, ETC. 



Considering the world as a whole, the mammals of this order, ex- 

 cept mankind, are not generally distributed or of much importance. 

 Nevertheless, locally some of the species are abundant and become a 

 serious problem because of their destructiveness, while in other re- 

 gions the flesh of some species is eaten and their skins are marketed, 

 thus being a source of some commercial profit. They are also much 

 used in zoological and amusement parks and circus menageries. 



Gorillas are very powerful animals and are known to sometimes at- 

 tack natives, both men and women. However, they are by no means as 



16 Starks, A history of California shore whaling, California Fish and Game 

 Comm., Fish Bull., No. 6, pp. 37-38, 1922. 



17 Rhoads, Mammals of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, p. 23, 1903. 

 "Jennison, Natural history: animals, p. 148. 



19 Cook, The manufacture of porpoise oil, Proc. U. S. Natl. Museum, i, 16-18, 

 1878. Clark, The blackfish and porpoise fisheries, The Fisheries and Fishing Indus- 

 tries of the U. S., Sec. v, Vol. n, 295-310, 1887. 



20 Stevenson, Utilization of the skins of aquatic animals, Kept. U. S. Fish Comm. 

 for 1902, pp. 339-340. 



^Hornaday, American natural history, n, 154, 1914. Aflalo, Standard Natural 

 History, n, 335, 1908 ; Nature Lovers' Library, v, 299, 1927. 



