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Otago Daily Times, Issue 18323, 13 August 1921, Page 10

Leather from the amphibious crocodile has been used for a long time. But not until bides became scarce, owing to the Great War. was the possibility of getting leather from the skins of fishes seriously considered. Then it was found that the ray or devil-fish and many species of shark would yield an excellent and very stout leather, and now. as stated in Everyday Science last month, catching sharks for tbeir skins is an established industry at Vancouver, end also in the East Indies and Australia Tlie devil-fish, which is really a huge skate, is among the monsters of tho deoD, and often weighs more than 12001 b. It and the octopus are the only things the shark is afraid of tackling. It is caught bv harpooning, and has to be very promptly despatched or it will either dive to a depth from which it cannot bo hauled in, or capsize the boat. The shark is caught in strong wiro-mesh nets, bnnled by motor boats, and killing them wh°n brought in in numbers is no soft iob. Very litt’e of either shark or devil-fish is wasted. Besides the skins, which go to the tanneries, the best part of the flesh is sold fresh or canned. From the b'cod a strong glue is got. and (he gut is row used for musical instruments, tennis rockets, fishing lines, and other purposes. Those parts which are inedib’e and cannot be uti’ised in nnv other wav aro made into fertiliser and noidtrv food. Even the shark’s teeth find their non in commere-'. TTp (o the present, though, traffics the devil-fish factory how to utilise the vow of sniues arrayed e'ong the whole leneth of the creature’s flit under-snifnco. These spines are the weapons with which it defends itself. When the rev attacked it bends itse’f rou"d, so that the fin of its nose almost touches, the end of iis tail: the" it lashes cut, and lenib’e wounds. From a fiOOlh shark 10 square feet of leather is obtained, and from :i rnv ns -’ncli as 100 square feet. Not only from fish come Father nowadays, but from whn'es and dofphino n well. The whale has n Vdo ]fr n- 2ft thick; but the sh-'n of t'-o T.piorr of his month make" excellent sole leather, and the bVine of his stomach make* a 10-thpr just of the right o"a' : tv for >"ah : ng ’hi glove-. The dolphin of the North Pacific is as ÜBe f,, l ned fro more enmero”' and eav’v <«.atight, lie is fro-" I Rf- to 28ft Ion"-, wciprhs aho-t I'XY.lh, and his hide can so’il Into five or six layers, each the thickness r.f caifsl.nu, and as va.h>ahle for leether-maVlug. And w-rine h’des ha-’p (he great -dvutesipe over hides of 1-nd nui.c.n s th'"’ nvo of the oncpc cn-litv ai“l IVo'chne*-: ell c-cixr The hid" of he hah'v seal. m>W to rh-- Birder. U almost no useful a.« d-e do'ohp.’s the tanner, and the seqg ,«f Br-'tish Colvrnhia promise to hwjnme -me of (#i». largest sources of kxther iu tho srorid.