No. 469] 



BIOLOGY OF THE DUCOXd 



51 



hand. Moreover, the blackfish hunters were in ir^ranl 



to this point, and aUhou^h they are extraordinarily expert in what- 

 ever has to do with the pursuit of their cpiarry, they were unable 

 to distinguish l)etween the soinids produ( (>d hy the breath of these 

 animals. 



It is well known that the movements of the (hi<ron<: in swim- 

 ming are slow and clumsy (Khmxiniicr and l-'inseln. Thu- late 

 one evening Dexler observed from his hoai. >i\ dnu-onL^s that 

 lazily broke water scarcelv ten m<-t(Ms away, and with a forward 

 rolling movement disap])eared a'^ain. As a rule, only the nasal 

 portion of the head came ahove waiei- in takiiiu' hivath as Kuppel 

 also has observed ; but liuppel and Senion likewise auree in 

 stating that very rarely the anterior part of body or the entire 

 head may ap[)ear. 



Before proceeding to deserii)e certain peculiarities of biol(»gi( al 



foimd in then, a hn-v ray, an ocean-hutterlly. and a dugoiig 

 whose tail had l.e.-onie en'fangled in ihc net, diougli ..therwise 

 the animal was able to move freely, d'his nii-ht b(> ealle<l very 

 unusual, for the animals generally strike tli(> net headfirst, or 

 with one of the flippers, getting entangled, and while hanging in 

 the net they thrash and roll about until they ar(> completely en- 

 tangled l)y the cords. The heavy net is thu> drawn together 

 into a solid mass and the dugoiig, no longer able to raise it in 

 order to come to the surface for breath, i^ drowned. In the 



