P. T. Barnum's celebrated "Fejee Mermaid" (half monkey, half fish), which
is now at the Peabody Museum, Harvard, was only one of many mermaids made
in Japan in the 19th century.  Indeed, Japan was the "world headquarters of
the mermaid industry," according to Richard D. Altick in "The Shows of
London" (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 1978. 553p).
Barbara Narendra
[log in to unmask]