Zoology of the International Exhibition. 161 



perhaps, if we were to indulge in some severe philosophy, and 

 the spirit of Pope's lines on the mutual relations of man and 

 goose, would have a new illustration. But dealing with the 

 practical, and, following as nearly as possible the order of the 

 catalogue, it will be seen that the United Kingdom exhibits 

 products only, and though these are of a common-place cha- 

 racter, they offer points for the consideration of the scientific 

 visitor neither unimportant nor uninteresting. 



Traversing the Tasmanian Courts, we find interesting exhibi- 

 tions of the products of the whale fishery, which has become so 

 important a branch of the industry of that colony. The Commis- 

 missioners' collections (194 — 380), and those from W. Powel 

 (560—566), and M. Sanderson (579—580), show that the 

 sperm whale still abounds in the Southern Ocean. The jaws of 

 the sperm whale forming the apex of the trophy will indicate 

 that fish of immense size are captured. The whales furnishing 

 the two great jaws produced respectively oil and head-matter 

 worth £1150 and £900. Balcena marginata, Australia, and 

 Antarctica, the Australian, New Zealand, and Cape whales ; 

 Catodon polycyphus, the South Sea sperm whale, and one or two 

 species of Delphinidce, afford the sport and profit of the southern 

 fisheries, which the Tasmanians have developed with so much 

 spirit, and which attract American vessels to share the risks and 

 rewards of the chace. There are now twenty-five whaling vessels 

 attached to the port of Hobart Town, and these employ a fleet 

 of 131 boats, two of which are suspended from the Tasmanian 

 trophy. Last year the exports of oil and head-matter amounted 

 to £60,350. New Zealand does not illustrate its position in 

 regard to the whale fishery, but Queensland calls attention to 

 another of the Getacea in the exhibitions of dugong oil (22, 24). 

 This is obtained from Halicone dugong, one of the herbivorous 

 whales, and the most interesting, zoologically, of any of the series 

 exhibited, so that we wish a complete skeleton had been forwarded 

 for addition hereafter to some of our museums. This fish is 

 found in great herds at the mouth of the Brisbane, and is easily 

 captured. The flesh would probably prove to be as good for food 

 as that of the porpoise (Pliocoena communis), which, from the 

 time of Henry VIII. to tha/fc of Queen Elizabeth, was considered 

 a royal dish. Certainly the oil is likely to acquire as much fame 

 for its curative properties as that from the liver of the cod, and 

 the Tasmanians have but to make its merits known to secure 

 good markets, and the extension of the fishery. From the 

 Cetacea to the Phocidce is but a short zoological step, and in the 

 Tasmanian Court are specimens of elephant sealskin. (461.) 

 Macrorhimisproboscideus, which the visitor will notice as capable 

 of many useful applications in the arts. This is the far-famed 

 sea-elephant of the Atlantic and Southern Oceans, which owes 



