1164 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [8] 



Only about eighteen species can be considered to be well-known, and 

 the majority of these are forms which occur in European waters as well 

 as on our own coasts, and have long been under observation. The 

 number of species whose habits, variations, and distribution are thor- 

 oughly understood is still smaller. The commonest porpoise on our 

 eastern coast is the so-called ''herring-hog," " puffing pig," or "harbor 

 porpoise," known to science as FJioccena communis (fig. 12, pi. iv). An- 

 other species which is also very common is the "bottle-nose doljjhin," 

 Tursiops tursio (fig. 6, pi. ii). The common dolphin, DelpMnus delpMs 

 (fig. 7, pi. iii), which has been known from time immemorial, the black- 

 fish, Glohiocephalus melas (fig. 18, pi. vi), and a striped porpoise also 

 appear to be very abundant along the Atlantic seaboard. On the Oali- 

 fornian coast there are also a harbor porpoise, a common dolphin, and a 

 striped porpoise, which are very abundant. 



!N^one of the large whalebone whales — the right whales, hump-backs, 

 fin-backs, and sulphur-bottoms — can be said to be abundant on the coasts 

 of the United States at the present day. 



There are doubtless persons in many of the Atlantic fishing-towns 

 who have had opportunities for observing the different Atlantic spe- 

 cies under various conditions, and it is much to be regretted that more 

 observations have not been recorded. The writings of Scammon have 

 extended the general knowledge of the species occurring on the west 

 coast far beyond that of those on the east coast. 



There are certain names which have been used to designate so many 

 different kinds of whales and porpoises that they ought to be avoided 

 as nauch as possible. For example, the name " grampus " has been ap- 

 plied both to porpoises and to whales with whalebone, which are not 

 more closely related than a horse and a cow. The word " blackfish " 

 has been employed for any porpoise which is black. In reality the 

 word " grampus " ought to be applied only to porpoises like that repre- 

 sented in fig. 17, pi. vi, and " blackfish " only to porpoises like that 

 represented in fig. 18, pi. vi. 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Observations on livinGt specimens. — There are many general ob- 

 servations of value which may be made by voyagers and other observ- 

 ers, even when the species under observation cannot be exactly iden- 

 tified. Such relate, for example, to — 



1. The number of individuals in a school. 



2. The apparent equality or inequality of age and size of individuals 

 of a school. 



3. The movements in swimming, whether rolling, leaping, or other- 

 wise. 



4. The direction of the movegxept md the successiorj pf different, 

 schools, 



