298 Zoological N. Y. Zoological Society. [1; 16 



been followed away from the beach, and their winter movements 

 are not known with certainty. 



The roving bands of porpoises may number from a dozen 

 to several hundred, and are present in that region from early 

 in October to early in May, when the majority of them move 

 northward. This is by far the commonest of the eight or nine 

 species of porpoises found in summer along the North Atlantic 

 coast of the United States. The species is one that is widely 

 distributed, occurring in many parts of the North and South 

 Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and mxay even be abundant at 

 other Atlantic points in winter, as well as at Hatteras. It has 

 also been recorded from the Indian Ocean and the vicinity of 

 New Zealand. 



The writer participated in the capture of sixty-three por- 

 poises in a single day at Hatteras, and, as the animals were 

 still passing, it is likely that the fishermen could have obtained 

 many more by throwing out the net a third time. The two 

 sexes occur in about equal members. An examination of fifty- 

 one specimens on November 12 showed a preponderance of fe- 

 males, there being thirty-four females and seventeen males but 

 there is much variation in this respect according to the season. 

 In the spring all classes of young and old may be found in the 

 same bands, while in the fall a band may consist chiefly of one 

 class. Although there were no porpoises present having a 

 length of much less than five feet, these were probably the 

 nursing young, although their teeth had already appeared. All 

 of the females examined were in milk, and the females killed 

 were not only in milk but also contained young. Whether there 

 were still smaller animals, which might have slipped between 

 the meshes of the net,' could not be ascertained, but the indica- 

 tions are that the porpoises five feet in length represented the 

 only young then with the herds, and were still nursing. 



Females containing young are found in every catch from 

 October to May. As porpoises are not taken in summer, there 

 is no information relative to their condition at that season. On 

 April 30, 1914, a foetus was found "nearly four feet long," while 

 other females killed the same day contained none over eighteen 

 inches long. The period during which the young are brought 

 forth, evidently covers several months. 



