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LIST OF PLATES.

THE FISHERIES AND FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

MAMMALS.

A. – THE WHALES AND PORPOISES.

1. THE SPERM WHALE.

      Distribution. – The Sperm Whale, Physeter macrocephalus Linn., was first described by Clusius in 1605 from specimens cast up on the coast of Holland in 1598 and 1601. It is the Cachalot of the French, the Pottfisch of the Germans, Potvisch or Kazilot of Holland, Kaskelot or Potfisk of Scandinavia, and one of the most valuable of cetaceans. Sperm Whales occur in every ocean, and though preferring warmer waters, are to be found at times close to the limits of the arctic regions. In the Pacific they have been taken off Cape Ommany, Alaska, latitude 56° 12', and in the Atlantic as far north as Scotland and Orkney, and perhaps even Greenland. In both Pacific and Atlantic they range below the southern tips of the continents and are believed to pass freely from ocean to ocean, around Cape Horn, though they are said never to round the Cape of Good Hope. Murray states that they have been seen and captured in almost every part of the ocean between latitude 60° south and 60° north. He mentions that they have been recorded as found off the north of Scotland but no further, though he gives some credence to ancient authors who mentioned their having been seen off Greenland.

      Beale, writing in 1836,¹ gave a list of their favorite resorts. It is interesting to compare the range of the species as then understood with their present range as indicated by the locations, and this comparison has been carefully made by Mr. A. Howard Clark, in the chapter on The Whale Fishery, in a subsequent section of this report. In discussing the facts before him, Murray² expresses the opinion that almost every place which has been mentioned as a favorite resort of the Sperm Whales, although out of soundings, has claims to be considered the site of submerged lands. The islands of Polynesia, which are their special feeding ground, are the beacons left by the submerged Pacific continent. "They are also to be seen," he continues, "about the equinoctial line in the Atlantic Ocean, but they would seem to be either straggling 'schools' which have rounded Cape Horn, or unprospering colonies. It is from these that the specimens which have been occasionally met with in the North Atlantic or in the English seas have wandered. They have been now and then cast ashore, and then they are usually in an emaciated condition. They seem to be unprepared for, or not to be adapted for, shallow seas. Accustomed (perhaps not individually, but

by hereditary practice or instinct) to swim along the coral islands of the Pacific, within a stone's throw of the shore, they cannot understand, their instinct is not prepared to meet, shallow coasts and projecting headlands."

      Murray's views, though suggestive, are, perhaps, not entirely well founded. It is certain, however, that the favorite haunts of the species have always been in the warmer seas, within or upon the verge of the tropics.

      Abundance in Former Days on the Coast of the United States. – There is no reason to doubt that Sperm Whales were at one time, nearly two centuries back, as abundant in the North Atlantic as in more recent years in the North Pacific. The vigorous prosecution of the whale fishery since the early part of the eighteenth century by American vessels has had much to do with their present scarcity. The traditions of the American whale fishery all point to their considerable abundance near the eastern coast of the United States.

      Macy, the historian of Nantucket, narrates that the first Sperm Whale known to that settlement was found dead and ashore on the southwest part of the island, and that the first taken by Nantucket whalemen was captured about the year 1712 by Christopher Hussey, who, "cruising near the shore for Right Whales, was blown off some distance from the land by a strong northerly wind, where he fell in with a school of that species of whale, and killed one and brought it home."¹ That Sperm Whales cannot at that time have been rare near the shore, may be inferred from the fact that the Nantucket Sperm Whale fleet which was then fitted out, and which three years later consisted of six sloops, producing oil to the value of $5,500 annually, were usually absent only six weeks, during which time they procured the blubber of one or two whales.² The Boston "News Letter" of October 2, 1766, stated: "Since our last a Number of Vessels have arrived from Whaling. They have not been successful generally. One of them viz: Capt. Clark on Thursday morning last discovered a Spermaceti Whale near George's Banks, mann'd his Boat, and gave Chase to her & she coming up with her Jaws against the Bow of the Boat struck it with such Violence that it threw a son of the Captain (who was forward, ready with his Lance) a considerable Height from the Boat, and when he fell the Whale turned with her devouring Jaws opened, and caught him. He was heard to scream, when she closed her Jaws, and part of his Body was seen out of her Mouth when she turned and went off."³

      The log of the whaling sloop "Betsey," of Dartmouth, records that on August 2, 1761, her crew saw two Sperm Whales and killed one in latitude 45° 54', longitude 53° 57': this would be in the gully between the Grand Bank and Green Bank, about fifty miles west of Whale Deep, in the Grand Bank, and sixty miles south of the entrance to St. Mary Bay, Newfoundland. August 9, this vessel and her consort killed two to the south and west of the Grand Bank in latitude 42° 57'. In 1822 Captain Atwood was on the "Laurel," of Provincetown, which took a Sperm Whale on the sixth day out, on the course to the Azores, just east of the Gulf Stream, and less than 500 miles from Cape Cod. The nearest grounds upon which Sperm Whales now regularly occur are those to the north and east of Cape Hatteras, the "Hatteras Ground," and a ground farther south known as the "Charleston Ground." The last one observed on the New England coast was very young, only sixteen feet long, and was taken near New Bedford, Mass., March 29, 1842.⁴

      In Douglass' "North America," published in 1755, it is stated that Spermaceti Whales "are to be found almost everywhere, but are most plenty upon the coast of Virginia and Carolina."

      A Sperm Whale came ashore in 1668 in Casco Bay, and the circumstance seems not to have been regarded as unusual in those days.¹

      A person writing in 1741 discourses as follows: "Some Years since, there stranded on the Coast of New England a dead Whale, of the Sort which, in the Fishers Language, is called Trumpo, having Teeth like those of a Mill; it's Mouth at a good Distance from and under the Nose, and several Partitions in the Nose, out of which ran a thin oily Substance that candy'd, the Remainder being a thick fat Substance, being scraped out, was said to be the Sperma Ceti; it was said so, and I believe that was all. Whales were often caught formerly between New-England and New-York, and if the Sperma Ceti had really been in the Nose of that, it must have been more common, and more cheap, than Experience tells us, it has been even since this Discovery, and at this present time. As to the Whale Fishery, 'tis now almost as much a Rarity in New as Old England; the Fishery of Cod is at this time very great here, tho' still far short of that of Newfoundland."²

      Occurrence on the coast of Europe. – In the Eastern Atlantic, also, the occurrence of this species has been by no means unusual. Fleming, in "British Animals," 1828, states that "the Spermaceti Whale often comes ashore in Orkney."³ In 1788, twelve males ran ashore in the English Channel.⁴ Other instances of their stranding on the English coast occurred in February, 1689,⁵ 1795,⁶ 1766,⁷ February 16, 1820,⁸ in 1825,⁹ and 1863,¹⁰ while others were obtained on the coast of Brittany in 1784,¹¹ and in the Mediterranean, at St. Nazaire, in 1856,¹² and on other occasions for which dates are not given.

      Occurrence on the California coast. – Although Sperm Whales have occasionally been taken off the California coast for the past thirty years, it would appear that few have been seen in those waters since 1874. Captain Scammon has cited in his book no instances of individuals personally observed by him.

      Size and color. – The sexes differ greatly in size and form, the female being slenderer and from one-fifth (Beale) to one-third or one-fourth (Scammon) as large as the male. The largest males measure from eighty to eighty-four feet in length, the head making up about one-third of the whole. In the head is the cavity known as the "case," from which is obtained the spermaceti and a quantity of oil. The youngest Sperm Whale on record is the one measuring sixteen feet, already mentioned as having been taken near New Bedford in 1842; its weight was 3,053 pounds.

      The Sperm Whale is black or brownish-black, lighter on the sides, gray on the breast. When old it is gray about the nose and top of the head.

      Habits of association, motion, blowing, etc. – Sperm Whales are gregarious and are often seen in large schools, which are, according to Beale, of two kinds, (1) of females accompanied by the young and one or two adult males, (2) of the young and half-grown males; the adult males always go singly. Their manner of motion is well described by Scammon as follows:

      "Among the whole order of cetaceans there is none which respires with the same regularity as the Cachalot. When emerging to the surface, the first portion of the animal seen is the region of the hump; then it raises its head, and respires slowly for the space of about three seconds, sending forth diagonally a volume of whitish vapor like an escape of steam; this is called the'spout,' which, in ordinary weather, may be seen from the mast-head at a distance of three to five miles. In respiring at its leisure, the animal sometimes makes no headway through the water; at other times it moves quietly along at the rate of about two or three miles an hour; or if' making a passage' from one feeding ground to another, it may accelerate its velocity. When in progressive motion, after 'blowing,' hardly an instant is required for inspiration, when the animal dips its head a little, and momentarily disappears; then it rises again to blow as before, each respiration being made with great regularity. * * * * With the largest bulls, the time occupied in performing one inspiration is from ten to twelve seconds, and the animal will generally blow from sixty to seventy-five times at a rising, remaining upon the surface of the sea about twelve minutes. As soon as 'his spoutings are out' he pitches headforemost downwards; then 'rounding out,' turns his flukes high in the air, and, when gaining nearly a perpendicular attitude, descends to a great depth, and there remains from fifteen minutes to an hour and a quarter.

      "When the Cachalot becomes alarmed or is sporting in the ocean, its actions are widely different. If frightened, it has the faculty of instantly sinking, although nearly in a horizontal attitude. When merely startled, it will frequently assume a perpendicular position, with the greater portion of its head above water, to look and listen; or, when lying on the surface, it will sweep around from side to side with its flukes to ascertain whether there is any object within reach. At other times, when at play, it will elevate its flukes high in the air, then strike them down with great force, which raises the water into spray and foam about it; this is termed 'lobtailing.' Oftentimes it descends a few fathoms beneath the waves; then, giving a powerful shoot nearly out of the water, at an angle of 45° or less, falls on its side, coming down with a heavy splash, producing a pyramid of foam which may be seen from the masthead on a clear day, at least ten miles, and is of great advantage to the whaler when searching for his prey. * * * * When individually attacked it makes a desperate struggle for life, and often escapes after a hard contest. Nevertheless, it is not an unusual occurrence for the oldest males to be taken with but little effort on the part of the whaler. After being struck, the animal will oftentimes lie for a few moments on the water as if paralyzed, which affords the active man of the lance opportunity to dart his weapon effectually and complete the capture."¹

      Owing to the peculiar shape and position of the mouth, the Sperm Whale has to turn upon its side to seize large objects between its jaws, and when one of them attacks a boat, it is in a reversed position, holding its lower jaw above the object it is trying to bite, as is shown in many pictures of whaling adventure.

      Food. – The food of this species consists of squids and of various kinds of fish. Couch tells of a young one, twenty feet long, taken on the coast of Cornwall, which had three hundred mackerel in its stomach. Captain Atwood states that when struck by the harpoon they eject from the stomach quantities of large squids.

      Reproduction. – They are said to breed at all seasons of the year. Scammon states that the time of gestation is supposed to be ten months, that the number of cubs is rarely two, never more, and that they are about one-fourth the length of their mother. In suckling the female reclines upon her side in the water.

      Useful Products. – The peculiar products of the head of this cetacean, the sperm oil and the spermaceti, render its capture particularly profitable. According to Captain Atwood about one-fifth of the yield of oil may be generally set down as the amount of spermaceti afforded by a Sperm Whale. The teeth are used by ivory cutters, and the ambergris is a substance valuable to druggists and perfumers. The parts of the body are to be described in the chapter on oil making, where the manner of cutting away the blubber will be discussed. The great lower jaws with their rows of bristling teeth are often brought home as trophies by whalers, and in Provincetown, New Bedford, or Nantucket may be seen gateways spanned by arches made of these bones.¹

      The following statement of yield of oil from whales taken by New Bedford whalers was furnished by Capt. Benjamin Russell in 1875:

      Capt. G. Allen captured one Sperm Whale, which tried out 150 barrels.

      Captain Tilton captured one Sperm Whale, which tried out 154 barrels.

      Captain Spooner captured one Sperm Whale, which tried out 130 barrels.

      Captain Knowles captured one Sperm Whale, which tried out 127 barrels.

      A number of captains report Sperm Whales yielding from 80 to 120 barrels each.

      The Porpoise Sperm Whale. – A small cetacean rather closely allied to the Sperm Whale, and called by certain authors the Porpoise Sperm Whale, occurs in the warmer parts of the Pacific. A specimen nine feet long was taken at Mazatlan, and was described by Professor Gill under the name Kogia Floweri.² It is of no economic importance. Nothing is known of its habits. A sketch of the animal and its jaw are preserved in the National Museum.

2. THE BLACKFISHES OR PILOT WHALES.

      Distribution. – The Blackfish, Globicephalus intermedius (Harlan) Gray, is one of the most important and most abundant of the small whales of the east coast. It occurs in great numbers to the northeast of the Grand Bank, and off the New England and Middle States. How far south it ranges is not certainly known. A closely related species is the Pilot Whale or Caing Whale of Europe, G. svineval (Lac.) Gray, also called Black Whale, Social Whale, Blowing Whale, and Bottlehead, the Svine-hval of Scandinavia; abundant in the North Sea and the northeastern

Atlantic. Another species is the Blackfish of the Eastern Pacific, G. Scammonii Cope, once abundant, according to Scammon, on the coast of Lower California, but now usually found off Guatemala, Ecuador, and Peru, though occasionally ranging to high northern and southern latitudes.

      Size. – The ordinary length of the New England Blackfish is fifteen to eighteen feet, though they sometimes grow larger. The largest ever seen by Capt. Caleb Cook, a veteran oil maker of Cape Cod, measured twenty-five feet and yielded five barrels of oil. The weight of a fifteen-foot Blackfish is estimated at 800 to 1,000 pounds.

      Movements. – They swim in large schools, sometimes several hundred together. They make little commotion at the surface of the water as they swim, not rolling like their little kindred, the Porpoises, but come up often to spout, the jet of spray rising three or four feet, and emitted with a low, deep, snorting sound. When at the surface they often remain in sight several minutes. Usually their movements are sluggish, though at times energetic enough, as can testify any one who has seen a school of them driven up on the beach. They feed upon schooling fish, menhaden, mackerel, herring, and squids. Blackfish are in great terror of the Killer Whales, which drive them about mercilessly. In September, 1878,I saw a school of them which had for some days been hovering around the entrance to Provincetown Harbor fleeing tumultuously before two large whales with high back-fins.

      Reproduction. – They breed in summer about Cape Cod. Out of one hundred and nineteen driven ashore at Dennis in August, 1875, fully eighty were females with young, or recently born calves of seven or eight feet. A foetus cut from a gravid Blackfish of eighteen feet was nearly seven feet long. All the females were yielding milk, and as the fishermen cut into their sides the warm fluid poured out in copious streams.

      Watson records, in the case of a female on the British coast suckling its young, that the calf was four feet six inches long in December and seven feet in January. Scammon thinks that in the Pacific they breed at all seasons. He found mothers with young calves off the Gulf of Dulce, Guatemala, in February, 1853.

      Stranding of the Blackfish schools. – As will be told more in detail in another chapter, hundreds, and often thousands, of them are stranded yearly on the shores of Cape Cod. They occasionally run ashore at Nantucket, and instances have occurred of their being driven in at Cape Breton. Although there have been similar instances in Europe, especially at the Orkneys, I cannot learn that such occurrences are sufficiently common anywhere else to be counted on by the people as a regular source of income. A Cape Cod fisherman occasionally wakes up in the morning to find two or three of these animals stranded in his back yard. "A pretty windfall," remarked one of them to me. Cape Cod, projecting far out to sea, with its sloping, unbroken sandy shores, seems like a trap or weir naturally adapted for their capture, and the Indians took advantage of this circumstance long before the European settlement. The Pilgrims, in 1620, found Indians on the shore at Wellfleet cutting up a Grampus, and in the shell-heaps of the surrounding region are yet to be found many evidences of their use of the smaller cetaceans for food. It is doubtful whether the Blackfish, stupid as they seem, would ever run ashore if not frightened by such enemies as the Killer. In fact a large share of those which become stranded are purposely driven up out of shoal water, into which they have strayed, by men in boats.

      Little can be said about the time when they are most abundant. It seems to depend on the supply of suitable food. Captain Cook believes that they feed mostly or entirely upon squids, and if this be the case their appearance must be regulated by the abundance of these animals. They are never seen earlier than June or later than December. Thirty years ago they were most

plentiful in August. Before 1874 they had never been seen before July. In July, 1875, a school of 120 came ashore at North Dennis. Those taken in the fall are usually the fattest.

      Capture of Blackfish. – Many years ago several Cape Cod whalers made a business of pursuing the Blackfish on the whaling grounds east of the Grand Bank. This enterprise, described in the chapter on the whale fishery, has been abandoned, but it is not uncommon for ordinary whalemen to kill them from their boats to obtain supplies of fresh meat, and of oil to burn on shipboard. That the flesh is not unpalatable the writer maintains, and can summon as witnesses a number of persons who tasted one at the Smithsonian Institution in 1874. There is a fishery for them at the Faroe Islands, and in the Pacific, says Scammon, small vessels are occasionally fitted out for their capture. "Sperm whalers," he writes, "do not lower their boats for Blackfish when on Sperm Whale ground, unless the day is far spent and there is little prospect of 'seeing whales.' The northern polar or whale-ships pay but little attention to them, except, perhaps, when passing the time 'between seasons,' cruising within or about the tropics."

      Useful products. – The yield of oil from a Blackfish varies, according to the size and fatness of the animal, from ten gallons to ten barrels. This is dark in color, and is classed with the ordinary "body oil" or "whale oil." The blubber varies from one to four inches in thickness, and is nearly white. The jaws yield a flue quality of machine oil, known as "porpoise jaw-oil", of which however, a limited quantity suffices to supply the market. The value of a stranded Blackfish in Cape Cod varies from $5 to $40.

      As is related elsewhere, Blackfish are often taken by whaling vessels when on a cruise, to obtain oil for burning and a supply of fresh meat. The brains are made by the ship's cook into "dainty cakes," as the whalemen call them, and the livers are said to be delicate and appetizing.¹

      Blackfish are harpooned by the Grand Bank cod-fishermen to be cut up and used for bait.

3. THE GRAMPUSES OR COWFISHES.

      Distribution. – Associated with the Blackfish on our east coast, though not so common, and rarely stranded, is the Cowfish, Grampus griseus (Lesson) Gray, also found in Europe, south to the British channel or farther, and there known as the "Grampus."

      Color and size. – Its slate-colored sides are curiously variegated with white markings, very irregular in size, shape and direction, evidently the results of accidental scratches in the epidermis.

Captain Cook thinks that these are the marks of the teeth made by the animals in playing with each other. It attains the length of fifteen or twenty feet, but is slenderer than the Blackfish. Its jaws are esteemed by the makers of fine oil.

      Habits. – Regarding this species, Captain Cook writes: "About the same time that the Blackfish made their appearance in our waters, there was another of the whale kind made their appearance also, called by the fishermen Cowfish. These whales are very much in shape of the Blackfish, only smaller, not so fat, and not so dark colored. These fish have only made their appearance in our waters three or four times for the last forty years, or about once in ten years. Probably not more than fifty have been taken in this period. The method of taking them is the same as that used for Blackfish."

      Several specimens, old and young, were obtained by the Fish Commission in 1875, November 29, November 30, and December 2, and their casts are in the National Museum. That this animal was known to the early colonists of New England appears probable from allusions in the early records.¹

      Products. – The oil of the Cowfish, particularly that of its jaws, is highly prized, though probably no better than that of the Blackfish. The "Barnstable Patriot" of November 7,1828, has this item: "A quantity of oil from the Grampus lately caught at Harpswell has been sold at Bath at $18 per barrel." It is very possible, however, that the Barnstable people of 1828 designate the Blackfish and the Grampus by the same name. Douglass' "North America," published in 1755, remarks: "Blackfish, i. e. Grampus, of six to ten barrels oil, Bottlenose of three or four barrels, may (like sheep) be drove ashore by boats."

      The California Grampus. – On the California coast occurs the Whiteheaded or Mottled Grampus, G. Stearnsii Dall, described by Scammon as growing to the average length of ten feet. "They are gregarious," he writes, "and congregate frequently in large schools; at times two or three, or even a solitary individual will be met with, wandering about the coast or up the bays in quest of food, which consists of fish and several varieties of crustaceans. It is rarely taken, as it is extremely shy." He refers also to four other forms, unknown to zoologists, but familiar to whalemen: chief among these is the "Bottlenose," which grows to be twenty-five feet long, and has occasionally been taken, though with much difficulty owing to its great strength and speed. Its oil is reputed to be equal in quality to that of the Sperm Whale.

4. THE HARBOR PORPOISES OR HERRING HOGS.

      Distribution. – On the Atlantic coast occurs most abundantly the little Harbor Porpoise, Phocaena brachycion Cope, known to the fishermen as "Puffer," "Snuffer," "Snuffing Pig," or "Herring Hog." The Bay Porpoise of California, P. vomerina Gill, and the Common Porpoise or Marsuin of Europe, are very similar in size, shape, and habits: with the latter in fact it is probably specifically identical. The Atlantic species occurs off Nova Scotia and probably farther northward, and ranges south at least to Florida. The California species, according to Scammon, has been found at Banderas Bay and about the mouth of the Piginto River, Mexico (latitude 20° 30'), and north to the Columbia River (latitude 46° 16'). In the winter these Porpoises are seen off Astoria and in Cathlamet Bay twenty miles above, but in spring and summer, when the river is fresh to its mouth, they leave the Columbia. The Atlantic Porpoise also ascends rivers. They go

up the Saint John's in Florida to Jacksonville, and about ]850 one was taken in the Connecticut at Middletown, twenty miles from brackish water. In Europe they ascend the Thames, the Weser, and other streams.

      Size and movements. – They rarely exceed four or four and a half feet in length. Every one has seen them rolling and puffing outside of the breakers or in the harbors and river mouths. The western Atlantic species swim in droves of from ten to one hundred, but Scammon says that those of California are never found associated in large numbers, though six or eight are often seen together. In England, according to Couch, seldom more than two are seen at once. They never spring from the water like Dolphins, but their motion is a rolling one and brings the back-fin often into sight, this always appearing shortly after the head has been exposed and the little puff of spray seen and the accompanying grunt heard. The rolling motion is caused by the fact that to breathe through the nostrils, situate on the top of the snout, they must assume a somewhat erect posture, descending from which the body passes through a considerable portion of a circle.

      Reproduction. – The breeding season is in summer, in August and September, in Passamaquoddy Bay, perhaps also at other times. The new-born young of an English Porpoise fifty-six inches long, measured twenty-six inches, and was sixteen inches in circumference.

      Food. – They feed on fish, particularly on schooling species like the herring and menhaden, and are responsible for an enormous destruction of useful food material.

      Uses. – Though frequently taken in the pounds and seines along both coasts and off Massachusetts in the gill-nets set for mackerel, they are of little importance except to the Indians or Maine and our Northwestern Territories, who carry on an organized pursuit of them, shooting them from their canoes. This industry will be described in the chapter upon Aboriginal fisheries.

      Destructiveness. – The Porpoise is pugnacious as well as playful. A fisherman in Florida told me that he once tried to pen a school of them in a little creek by anchoring his boat across its entrance. When they came down the creek they sprang over the boat against the sail, through which they tore their way and regained the river. A correspondent, whose name has been mislaid,, writes: "A very unusual event occurred at Far Rockaway on Tuesday morning, about four o'clock, in front of the Nelson House. A school of Drumfish were chased into shallow water by a school of Porpoises. The Drumfish tried their best to get away, but the Porpoises pursued them so hotly that a number of the former were driven ashore. The people of the hotel were awakened by a great splashing and a noise somewhat similar to but less distinct than the grunt of a frightened hog. Looking out of the windows they saw the Porpoises striking the Drumfish with their tails. Soon after the Porpoises turned and left. The porters at the hotel and some of the fishermen secured with boat-hooks about twenty-five dead Drumfish, and a large number are still floating around Jamaica Bay. The Drumfish secured weighed from thirty to seventy pounds each. Some were sent to Canarsie for exhibition and others to Fulton Market for sale."

      The Drum being an enemy of the Oyster, it is possible that the Porpoise by destroying them is a benefactor. It would be no more curious than the experience of the Canadian Government in decreasing their Salmon fishery in the St. Lawrence by destroying the White Whales which preyed upon the seals, the enemies of the Salmon. The story about the Porpoises killing drum seems incredible, but is supported by Sir Charles Lyell's account of a battle between the Porpoises and the Alligators in Florida: "Mr. Couper told me that in the summer of 1845 he saw a shoal of Porpoises coming up to that part of the Altamaha where the fresh and salt water meet, a space about a mile in length, the favorite fishing ground of the Alligators, where there is brackish water, which shifts its place according to the varying strength of the river and the tide. Here were seen about fifty Alligators, each with head and neck raised above water, looking down the stream at

      their enemies, before whom they had fled terror-stricken and expecting an attack. The Porpoises, not more than a dozen in number, moved on in two ranks, and were evidently complete masters of the field. So powerful indeed are they that they have been known to chase a large Alligator to the bank, and, putting their snouts under his belly, toss him ashore."¹

      The authority referred to, Mr. Hamilton Couper, of Hopeton, Ga., was a gentleman of some prominence as a geological observer.

5. THE DOLPHINS.

      Habits. – The Dolphins constitute a large group of cetaceans, represented by many species, and abundant everywhere in temperate and tropical seas. They are often seen in mid-ocean sporting in large schools, pursuing the pelagic fishes, but are still more common near the coast. They are from five to fifteen feet long, gracefully formed, and very swift. Nowhere are they the objects of organized pursuit, though frequently caught in nets or harpooned from the bows of vessels at sea. Many cod schooners fishing on the Grand Banks, especially those from Cape Cod, depend chiefly for bait upon the Porpoises they can kill and the birds they can catch. The best known species on the Atlantic coast are the "Skunk Porpoise" or "Bay Porpoise," Lagenorhynchus perspicillatus Cope, and related forms. Large schools are often seen in the sounds and along the shore. They are easily distinguished from the little Harbor Porpoise, just spoken of, by the broad stripes of white and yellow upon their sides. When schools of a hundred or more can be surrounded and driven ashore by the fishermen, as is often done on Cape Cod, a large profit is made from the sale of their bodies to the oil-makers, though they are not so much prized as the Blackfish, so much larger and fatter. A closely related species is the Common Porpoise of California, Lagenorhynchus obliquidens Gill. "They are seen," writes Captain Scammon, "in numbers varying from a dozen up to many hundreds tumbling over the surface of the sea, or making arching leaps, plunging again on the same curve, or darting high and falling diagonally sidewise upon the water with a spiteful splash, accompanied by a report which may be heard to some distance. In calm weather they are seen in numerous shoals, leaping, plunging, lobtailing and finning, while the assemblage moves swiftly in various directions. They abound more along the coasts where small fish are found. Occasionally a large number of them will get into a school of fish, frightening them so much that they lose nearly all control of their movements, while the Porpoises fill themselves to repletion."

      The Right Whale Porpoise, Leucorhamphus borealis (Peale) Gill, is found in the Pacific from Bering Sea to Lower California, though not so abundantly as the last. The Right Whale Porpoise of the Atlantic, often spoken of by our whalers, is a related species, perhaps L. Peronii (Lac.) Lilljeboig, abundant in the South Atlantic and Pacific, but not yet recorded by naturalists for our waters. Several species of the true Dolphins occur in the North Atlantic, but only one, Delphinus clymenis, has been found with us, Cope having secured it in New Jersey; Baird's Dolphin D. Bairdii Dall, a species six or seven feet long and weighing 100 to 175 pounds, is frequent in California. The Cowfish of California, Tursiops Gillii Dall, is a sluggish species known to the whalemen of the lagoons,² and an allied species, T. erebennus (Cope) Gill, is known on the Atlantic coast. New forms of this group are constantly being discovered. All are of commercial value when taken.

6. THE KILLER WHALES OR ORCAS.

      Habits and distribution. – The Killer Whales are known the world over by their destructive and savage habits. Although their strength and speed render it almost impossible to capture them, they are of importance to the fisherman as enemies of all large sea animals, often putting them to flight at inconvenient times. The Atlantic species, Orca gladiator (Bonnaterre) Gill, was first brought to notice in 1671 in Martens' "Voyage to Spitzbergen." It is often seen on the New England coast in summer, driving before it schools of the blackfish or other small whales: it is a special enemy of the tunny or horse mackerel: Captain Atwood tells of the consternation shown by these enormous fishes when a number of them have gathered in Provincetown Harbor and the Killers come in. They are a great annoyance to the Cape Cod people when they are trying to drive a school of blackfish ashore, and on the other hand often drive these ashore when they would not be accessible to the fishermen. They prey largely, too, upon the white whale in northern seas. In the Pacific there are two species at least, the Low-finned Killer, Orca atra Cope, and the Highfinned Killer, Orca rectipinna. The latter, though rarely more than twenty feet long, has an enormous dagger-shaped fin, six feet high, upon its back, which towers above the surface when the animal swims high. In fact the Killer Whales all have these high back-fins, by which they may be recognized at any distance.

      Destructiveness. – Captain Scammon, in his "Marine Mammals of the Northwestern Coast," gives a long account of their habits, and of their fierce attacks upon the largest whales. The stories of the combats of the swordfish and the thresher shark upon whales have probably originated in such combats as these, witnessed at a distance and imperfectly understood. Captain Scammon writes: "The attacks of these wolves of the ocean upon their gigantic prey may be likened in some respects to a pack of hounds holding the stricken deer at bay. They cluster about the animal's head, some of their number breaching over it while others seize it by the lips and haul the bleeding monster under water; and when captured, should the mouth be open, they eat out its tongue. We saw an attack made by three Killers upon a cow whale and her calf in a lagoon on the coast of Lower California, in the spring of 1858. The whale was of the California gray species, and her young was grown to three times the bulk of the largest Killers engaged in the contest, which lasted for an hour or more. They made alternate assaults upon the old whale and her offspring, finally killing the latter, which sunk to the bottom, where the water was five fathoms deep. During the struggle, the mother became nearly exhausted, having received several deep wounds about the throat and lips. As soon as their prize had settled to the bottom, the three Orcas descended, bringing up large pieces of flesh in their mouths, which they devoured after coming to the surface. While gorging themselves in this wise the old whale made her escape, leaving a track of gory water behind."¹

      Annoyance to whalemen. – Instances are given where whales which had been killed by whalemen and were being towed to the ship have been forcibly carried away by bands of Killers. They are also obnoxious as destroyers of the young fur seal, and often remain for a long time in the vicinity of the seal islands. Eschricht says that thirteen porpoises and fourteen seals were found in the stomach of an Atlantic Killer, sixteen feet in length. They are particularly abundant in the bays and sounds of British Columbia and Alaska, in search of seals and porpoises feeding there upon small fish. They even attack the full-grown walrus and rob it of its young.

      Uses. – Their range is cosmopolitan. They are never attacked by whale ships, and their only pursuers in America are the Makah Indians of Washington Territory, who, according to Scammon,

occasionally take them about Cape Flattery, considering their fat and flesh luxurious food. Their jaws, studded with strong conical teeth, are often sold in our curiosity shops.

7. THE SPERM WHALE PORPOISE.

      Capture of two individuals in New England. – A specimen twenty-five feet long of this animal, Hyperaodon bidens Owen, was found on the beach at North Dennis, Mass., January 29, 1869; another was obtained in 1866 or 1867 at Tiverton Stone Bridge, R. I. I am indebted to Mr. J. H. Blake for an outline of this cetacean, and the following notes, taken by him at the time, he having visited Dennis and obtained the skeleton for the Museum of Comparative Zoology: "When found," he writes, "the blood was still warm. It was twenty-five feet long, six feet high, and the tail was six feet across. The flippers were twenty-nine inches long, the snout twenty inches. The hump on the back was three or four inches high, thick at the base and narrowing toward the tip. The blubber was two and a half to four inches thick, and sold for $175. Squid-beaks enough to fill two water-buckets were taken from the stomach."

8. THE WHITE WHALE.

      Distribution. – The White Whale, Delphinapterus catodon (Linn.) Gill, first described in 1671 in Martens' "Voyage to Spitsbergen," resembles in form the other members of the Dolphin family, slender and graceful, with a small head and powerful tail. The adult, which attains a length of fifteen or sixteen feet, is creamy white in color; the young, five or six feet long when newly born,is lead-colored, passing through a period of mottled coloration before assuming the mature appearance. The specie's is abundant in the North Atlantic, North Pacific, and Arctic Oceans. Stragglers have been seen in the Frith[sic] of Forth, latitude 56°, while on the American coast several have been taken within the past decade on the north shore of Cape Cod. They are slightly abundant in New England waters, but in the Saint Lawrence River and on the coast of Labrador are plentiful, and the object of a profitable fishery. They abound in the Bering and Okhotsk Seas, and ascend the Yukon River, Alaska, to a distance of 700 miles. The names in use are Beluga and Whitefish among whalers, Porpoise, Dauphin Blanc, Marsuin or Marsoon in Canada, and Keela Luak with the Greenland Eskimos.

      Habits. – The species is familiar to many from having been recently exhibited in several aquariums, and also by traveling showmen. When in captivity they feed on living eels, of which a grown individual consumes two or three bushels daily. They are also known to subsist on bottom fish, like flounders and halibut, on cod, haddock, and salmon, squids and prawns. They are, in their turn, the food of larger whales, such as the killer or orca. They swim in small schools, entering shallow sounds and rapid rivers in swift pursuit of their food. They spout inconspicuously, and are not easily distinguished when swimming.

      The few which have been taken recently along our Atlantic coast have been sold to aquariums or to natural history museums, yielding good prices to their captors. The fishery in the river Saint Lawrence is of considerable importance.

      Historical Note. – The first allusion to the occurrence of this cetacean in our waters was printed by Josslyn in 1675, in his "Account of Two Voyages to New England": "The Sea-hare is as big as Grampus or Herrin-hog, and as white as a sheet; There hath been of them in Black-point Harbour, & some way up the river, but we could never take any of them, several have shot sluggs at them, but lost their labour."

      Captures in Massachusetts. – "About the year 1857," writes Captain Atwood, "a species of cetacean twelve or fourteen feet long was killed in Provincetown Harbor, off Long Point, which no

one knew. I examined it and found it to differ from all the others then known here. Not long after it was announced that there was a White Whale on exhibition at the Aquaria] Gardens in Boston; that Mr. Cutting had brought alive from the River Saint Lawrence a species that had never been seen south of that river. Soon after I visited Boston and called to see it. I pronounced it to be identical with the unknown species taken at Provincetown. In 1875 or 1876 another was seen in the harbor, but the boats could not get it."

      October 11, 1875, two individuals, a cow about ten feet long and weighing 700 pounds approximately, and a calf nearly as large as its mother, weighing about 500 pounds, were taken in the Yarmouth River by Capt Benjamin Lovell. They were sold to the Boston Society of Natural History.¹

      Uses. – Certain oil manufacturers from Cape Cod have agencies in Canada, from which they obtain the materials for the manufacture of an excellent machine oil, sold under the name of "Porpoise-jaw oil." A large White Whale yields from eighty to one hundred gallons of ordinary oil, besides the more precious head oil. Porpoise leather is made from the skins, a leather of almost indestructible texture, and peculiarly impervious to water. From this the Canadian mail-bags are made, and, to some extent, tourists' walking shoes. On our Alaska coast they are not unfrequently taken, chiefly by the natives, but the fishery has not yet become of commercial importance. In Eastern Siberia, according to Scammon, there are extensive fisheries carried on by the natives from June to September, with nets and harpoons. They eat the flesh and sell the oil, a considerable portion of which is no doubt secured by American whale ships.²

9. THE NARWHAL.

      Distribution. – The Narwhal, Monodon monoceros Linn., whose long spiral tusk has always been an object of curiosity, and gave rise to the stories of the imaginary creature known as the Unicorn, is now found in only one part of the United States – along the northern shores of Alaska. It is still abundant in the Arctic Ocean, and many tusks are brought down yearly by American and European whalers, obtained from the natives of Greenland and Siberia. It has long since ceased to appear on the coasts of Great Britain, the last having been seen off Lincolnshire in 1800. There is a record of one having been seen in the Elbe at Hamburg in 1736.

      Size, uses, etc. – The Narwhal is ten to fourteen feet long, somewhat resembling the white whale in form, is black, and in old age mottled or nearly white. The tusk, a modified tooth, grows out of the left side of the upper jaw, to the length of eight or ten feet. All its teeth, except its tusks, are early lost, and it is said to feed on fish and soft sea-animals. The Eskimos utilize it in many ways. Its ivory, however, is the only product of value to civilized man, this being made

into canes and other articles of ornament. The supply in this country is chiefly imported from Denmark. In New York City in 1880 a good tusk sold for $50.

10. THE GREENLAND, BOWHEAD, OR POLAR WHALE.

      Confusion between the Bowhead and the Right Whale. – Much uncertainty has resulted from the manner in which the Bowhead of the arctic regions has been confused with the right whales of the adjoining temperate seas. Murray, writing in 1866,¹ made no attempt to clear up the subject; previous writers were confused as well as vague, and it is only in Scammon's writings that a clear account of the distribution and habits of the species is to be found. The materials for the following biographical sketch are derived in the main from the statements of this author, and quotation marks are omitted only because the facts are arranged in a new sequence.²

      Distribution. – The range of the true Balaena mysticetus extends west from Nova Zembla to the coast of Eastern Siberia. Its northern limits yet remain undefined: it is seldom seen in Bering Sea south of the fifty-fifth parallel, which is about the southern extent of the winter ice, though in the Sea of Okhotsk it ranges south to the parallel of 54°. It was formerly found to the north of Spitzbergen, but it has been shown by Eschricht and Reinhardt that its habitat is, and always has been, confined to the polar seas, and that it has no claim to a place in the fauna of Europe.³

      Everything tends to prove that the Bowhead is truly an "ice-whale," for its home is among the scattered floes or about the borders of the ice-fields or barriers. It is true that these animals are pursued in the open water during the summer months, but in no instance has their capture been recorded south of where winter ice-fields are occasionally met with. In the Okhotsk Sea they are found throughout the season after the ice disappears, nevertheless they remain around the floes till these are dispelled by the summer sun, and they are found in the same localities after the surface of the water has again become congealed in winter.

      Reproduction. – The time and place of breeding are not certainly known, but it is supposed that the young are born in the inaccessible parts of the Arctic Ocean. In Tchantar Bay are found small whales called "Poggys," which resemble the Bowhead, and are by many believed to be their young.

      The Bowheads of the Arctic are classed by Scammon as follows: (1) the largest whales of a brown color, average yield of oil 200 barrels; (2) smaller, color black, yield 100 barrels; (3) smallest, color black, yield 75 barrels, and to these should perhaps be added (4) the "poggy," yield 20 to 25 barrels. Those of the third class are generally found early in the season among the broken floes, and have been known to break through ice three inches thick that had been formed over water between the floes. This they do by coming up under and striking it with the arched portion of their heads. Hence they have been called "ice-breakers."

      Economic importance. – The Bowhead is the most valuable of the whalebone whales, not so much by reason of its size, for it rarely exceeds fifty feet in length, never sixty-five, but because it yields so large an amount of oil and whalebone. It is short, bulky, and bloated in appearance. Like the sperm whale, it has a head the length of which is nearly one-third of the total, and which is its most striking feature. The caudal fin is immense, being sixteen to twenty feet in extent from tip to tip, and correspondingly thick and broad.

      Size. – Scammon gives measurements of two individuals. One, from the Arctic Ocean, August, 1867,was forty-seven feet long, and yielded eighty barrels of oil. The other, from the same ocean, in 1870, was forty-five feet long, yielded sixty barrels of oil and 1,050 pounds of bone. Capt. David Gray, of Peterhead, also gives measurements of an individual taken in Greenland. Some of the most important dimensions of these three whales are presented here, in order to impart to the reader an idea of their proportions:

      Movements. – When not disturbed the animal remains up, generally to respire, from one and a half to two minutes, during which time it spouts from six to nine times, and then disappears for the space of ten to twenty minutes. The volume of vapor is similar to that ejected by the right whale. Sometimes, when engaged in feeding, it remains down for twenty-five minutes or more. When struck by the whalemen they have been known to remain on the muddy bottom, at a depth of fifty fathoms or more, for the space of an hour and twenty minutes. Their movements and the periods of time they remain above or below the surface are, however, irregular. When going gently along or lying quietly, they show two portions of the body – the spout-holes, and a part of the back.

      Baleen. – The baleen, or "whalebone," of the Greenland and the Right Whales, being of so much importance commercially, it cannot be amiss to explain, by means of diagrams and a description,

how it is attached to the month of the animal, and for what purposes it is used, even at the risk of being a trifle too elementary for many of the readers of this chapter.

      It is wrongly called "whalebone," since it is not bone, but a substance, resembling equally hair and horn, which grows in the mouth of the animal as a substitute for teeth,¹ being, as anatomists generally admit, a peculiar development of hair growing upon the palate.² This substance is developed into a sieve-like apparatus, consisting of extensive rows of compact, flexible, closely set plates or blades, growing from the thick gum at the circumference and palatal surface of the upper jaw, hanging down upon both sides of the tongue.

      Capt. David Gray, of the whaling ship "Eclipse," of Peterhead, Scotland, has recently made a number of important observations upon these whales, one of the most important of which was the ascertainment of the manner in which the Baleen Whales operate the powerful sieve-like organs within their jaws. He has also published some very interesting diagrams of the interior of the mouth of the Greenland Whale.³

      "Along the middle of the crown-bone," writes Gaptain Gray, "the blades of whalebone are separated from each other by three-quarters of an inch of gum, but the interval decreases both towards the nose and the throat to a quarter of an inch. The gum is always white; in substance it resembles the hoof of a horse, but softer. It is easily cut with a knife, or broken by the hand, and is tasteless. The whalebone representing the palate is lined inside the mouth with hair, for the purpose of covering the space between the slips, and prevents the food on which the Whale subsists from escaping. This hair is short at the roof of the mouth, but is from twelve to twenty inches long at the points of the whalebone. This it requires to be, because when the mouth is opened the bone springs forward, and the spaces are greatest at the points. I counted the number of blades of whalebone in a whale's head last voyage, and found 286 on the left, and 289 on the right side of the head.

      "Hitherto it has been believed that the whale bone had room to hang perpendicularly from the roof of the mouth to the lower jaw, when the mouth was shut, but such is not the case. The bone is, however, arranged so as to reach from the upper to the lower jaw when the mouth is open; were it otherwise the whale would not be able to catch its food; it would all escape underneath the points of the whalebone. The whale has no muscular power over its whalebone, any more than other animals have over their teeth. When the animal opens its mouth to feed, the whalebone springs forward and downward, so as to fill the mouth entirely; when in the act of shutting it again, the whalebone being pointed slightly towards the throat, the lower jaw catches it and carries it up into a hollow in front of the throat."4

      Food. – The food of the Bowhead consists of floating animals, classed by the whalemen under the names "right whale feed" and "brit." Many kinds of invertebrates are, of course, included under these general terms, one of the most abundant of which is, perhaps, a kind of winged or pteropod mollusk, the Clio borealis, which occurs in northern seas, floating in great masses. When the Bowhead is feeding it moves with considerable velocity near the surface, its jaws being open to allow the passage of currents of water into the cavity of the mouth and through the layers of baleen at the sides. All eatable substances are strained out by the fringes of the baleen and are swallowed.

      Feeding habits. – The manner of feeding is well described by Captain Gray: "When the food is near the surface they usually choose a space between two pieces of ice, from three to four hundred yards apart, which we term their beat, and swim backwards and forwards, until they are satisfied that the supply of their food is exhausted. They often go with the point of their nose so near the surface that we can see the water running over it just as it does over a stone in a shallow stream; they turn round before coming to the surface to blow, and lie for a short time to lick the food off their bone before going away for another mouthful. They often continue feeding in this way for hours, on and off, afterwards disappearing under the nearest floe, sleeping, I believe, under the ice, and coming out again when ready for another meal. In no other way can this sudden reappearance at the same spot be accounted for.

      "Very often the food lies from ten to fifteen fathoms below the surface of the water. In this case the whales' movements are quite different. After feeding they come to the surface to breathe and lie still for a minute. One can easily see the effort they make when swallowing. They then raise their heads partially out of the water, diving down again, and throwing their tails up in the air every time they disappear. Their course below the water can often be traced from their eddy. This is caused by the movement of the tail, which has the effect of smoothing the water in circles immediately behind them.

      "More whales have been caught when feeding in this way than in any other; they lie longer on the surface, often heading the same way every time they appear, which is very important to whale fishers, because whales must be approached tail-on to give any certainty of getting near enough to have a chance of harpooning them, and the harpooner has a better idea where to place his boat to be in readiness to pull on to them whenever they come to the surface.

      "Like all the other inhabitants of the sea, whales are affected by the tides, being most numerous at the full and change of the moon, beginning to appear three days before, and disappearing entirely three days after, the change. Often this will go on for months with the utmost regularity, unless some great change in the ice takes place, such as the floes breaking up on the ice being driven off the ground; in either case they will at once disappear.

      "No doubt whales are seen, and often taken at any time of the tides; but if a herd is hunted

systematically, and they are attached to a particular feeding bank, this is their usual habit. Neither can this peculiarity in their habits be easily accounted for; their food is as abundant during the neap as it is in the spring tides.

      "The principal food of the Greenland Whale consists of a small crustacean, not larger than the common house-fly, which is found in greatest abundance when the temperature of the sea is from 34° to 35°, the ordinary temperature amongst ice being 29°, the color of the water varying from dark brown to olive green and clear blue, the blue water being the coldest.

      "The Crustacea live upon the animalculae which color the water. They are transparent, and the contents of their stomachs can be easily seen to be dark brown or green as the case may be."¹

11. THE RIGHT WHALES.

      Distribution and affinities. – There is no group of existing mammals so important as the Right Whales, concerning which so little that is satisfactory is known. Zoologists have not yet determined how many species there are, nor what are the limits of their distribution. All that can be certainly said is, that Right Whales – that is, the right kind to kill for the whalebone – occur in the North Atlantic and the North Pacific, and also in the cooler waters of the southern hemisphere. In the northern hemisphere they never cross the Tropic of Cancer, though in the south, both in the Pacific and the Atlantic, they have occasionally been known to cross that of Capricorn.

      The Right Whales of the north have, until very recently, been confounded by whalemen and zoologists with the bowhead, or polar whale, to which they are closely related. There is one group of baleen-bearing whales, the rorquals, finners, or finbacks, which have a fin upon the back: the true Right Whales, however, have none. The rorquals, the largest of whales, are very swift and slender, and are believed to occur in tropical as well as temperate seas, all the world over.

      The Right Whale of the Western Atlantic has been described by E. D. Cope, under the name Eubalaena cisarctica. This species, not remotely related to the Eubalaena biscayensis, of the Eastern Atlantic, was formerly abundant on the coast of New England, and, as will be shown in the chapter on the shore whale fishery of New England, its presence in such numbers about Cape Cod was one of the chief reasons for planting the early English settlements in this district. Captain Atwood informs me that they are most abundant off Provincetown, in April and May, though occasionally seen at other seasons. One was killed in Cape Cod Bay, near Provincetown, in 1867; it was forty-eight feet long, and yielded eighty-four barrels of oil, as well as 1,000 pounds of baleen, valued at $1,000. Two or three others have since then been killed in the vicinity, but years now often pass by without any being seen.2

      A Right Whale of forty to fifty feet was killed in the harbor of Charleston, S. C, January 7, 1880, after it had been swimming about within the bar several days.³

      In evidence of the former abundance of this species, may be mentioned the fact, that when, about the middle of the last century, whales began to be scarce along the coast, a large fleet was dispatched to Davis Straits, where none but whalebone whales occur. E. cisarctica occurs at least as far south as the Bermudas. A species of Right Whale is found also about the Azores.

      In the North Pacific occurs the Pacific Right Whale, or "Northwest Whale" of the whalers,

Eubalaena cullamach (Chamisso) Cope. Its distribution is not well understood. Dall gives it as occurring in the Arctic, Bering, and Okhotsk Seas, off Lower California, and, perhaps, in Japan.¹

      Scammon writes that in former years they were found on the coast of Oregon, and occasionally in large numbers; but their chief resort was upon what is termed the "Kodiak Ground," which extends northwestward from Vancouver's Island to the Aleutian Islands, and westward to the one hundredth and fiftieth meridian. They also abounded in the Okhotsk and Bering Seas, and along the Kamschatka coast. He supposes that those which have been observed on the coast of California were stragglers from the north. "Some, indeed," he writes, "have been taken (from February to April) as far south as the Bay of San Sebastian Viscarrio, and about Cedros, or Cevros, Island, both places being near the parallel of 29° north latitude; while on the northwestern coast they are captured by the whalers from April to September inclusive."²

      None appear to have been killed on the California coast, within thirty or forty years, if we may judge from Captain Scammon's failing to mention such instances.

      In the Antarctic Seas and the adjoining waters are other Right Whales. Eubalaena australis, the Cape Whale or Black Whale, abounds about the Cape of Good Hope, and is regarded by Murray as an inhabitant of the South Atlantic, South Pacific, and Indian Oceans.³ E. antipodarum was described by Gray from New Zealand, and in Murray's map is designated as a more antarctic form than the Cape Whale, though in the text of his book he denies that this is known to be a fact.4 Owing to the fact that the bowhead and the Right Whales have until recently been considered identical, there is a dearth of reliable observations upon habits known to refer definitely to these animals.

      Movements. – Their manner of feeding and general mode of life are, as might be expected, very similar to those of the bowhead. I quote from Scammou:

      "They are often met with singly in their wanderings, at other times in pairs or triplets, and scattered over the surface of the water as far as the eye can discern from the masthead. Toward the last of the season they are seen in large numbers crowded together. The herds are called 'gams,' and they are regarded by experienced whalemen as an indication that the whales will soon leave the grounds.

      "Their manner of respiration is to blow seven to nine times at a 'rising,' then, 'turning flukes' (elevating them six or eight feet out of the water), they go down and remain twelve or fifteen minutes. It is remarked, however, since these whales have been so generally pursued, that their action in this respect has somewhat changed. When frightened by the approach of a boat they have a trick of hollowing the back, which causes the blubber to become slack, thus preventing the harpoon from penetrating. Many whales have been missed, owing to the boat-steerer darting at this portion of the body. Having been chased every successive season for years, these animals have become very wild and difficult to get near to, especially in calm weather."

      Reproduction. – The time of gestation is fixed by Scammon at about one year. Twins are occasionally though rarely born. The time and place of calving is not known, but are supposed to be variable, as in the case of the sperm whale. These whales are said to resort to the Californian "bays" to bring forth their young, and formerly were sought for in the inland waters of these high southern latitudes, where many a ship has in past years quickly completed her cargo by "bay whaling."5

      Sizes and yield of oil. – The following statement of sizes of whales taken by New Bedford vessels, as indicated by their yield of oil, is very instructive. It was furnished by Capt. Benjamin Russell, in 1875. There is no means of distinguishing the bowheads from the Right Whales:

      Captain Devot took one Right Whale off Kodiac; made 290 barrels.

      Captain Devot took four Right Whales off Kodiac; made 920 barrels.

      Captain Clark took one Right Whale off Kamtchatka; made 180 barrels.

      Captain Wood took one Right Whale off Kamtchatka; made 230 barrels.

      Captain Rice, of New London, took ten Right Whales off Kamtchatka; made 700 barrels.

      Captain Winston took one Right Whale off Kamtchatka; made 270 barrels.

      Captain Winston took two Rigbt Whales off Kamtchatka; made 480 barrels.

      Captain Spooner took one Right Whale off Kamtchatka; made 260 barrels.

      Captain Cox took one Right Whale off Kodiac; made 225 barrels.

      Captain West took two Right Whales; made 508 barrels.

      Captain West took thirteen Right Whales; made 1,780 barrels.

      Captain Wood took one Right Whale; made 280 barrels.

      A number of captains report one each, from 80 to 200 barrels.

12. THE HUMPBACK WHALES.

      Distribution. – The Humpback Whales, also often called Bunch Whales by Europeans, occur in both Atlantic and Pacific. Captain Ross saw them as far south as latitude 71° 50'. In the Pacific they range to the Arctic Circle, and there is reason to believe that they occur also about Greenland. Our Atlantic species is Megaptcra osphyia Cope, that of the California region M. versabilis. As usual, the inquirer must go to Scammon for accurate observations, little being known about the species of the Atlantic.

      Migrations. – They appear to resort periodically, and with some degree of regularity, to certain localities where the females bring forth their young. Scammon found them breeding in July and August, 1852 and 1853, in the Gulf of Guayaquil, Peru; in December in the Bay of Valle de Banderas, Mexico, latitude 20° 30'; and in May, 1855, at Magdalena Bay, Lower California, latitude 24° 30'. Captain Beckerman observed them at Tongataboo, Friendly Group, latitude 21° south, longitude 174° west, in August and September. Large numbers of both sexes migrate north in summer and south in winter.

      Size. – They attain the length of twenty-five to seventy-five feet, and yield from eight to seventy-five barrels of oil. The largest taken in 1871 by Captain Beckerman was seventy-five feet long, and produced seventy-three barrels, but the average yield was forty barrels, including the entrail fat, which amounted to about six barrels. One taken off the bay of Monterey, in 1858, yielded 145 barrels.

      The blubber, according to Bennett, is yellowish-white, five to fifteen inches thick, and the oil is said to be better than that of the right whale.

      The baleen possesses a moderate commercial value. In a specimen fifty-two feet long, Scammon records 540 laminae, the longest two feet eight inches long and nine inches broad, and elsewhere he estimates its yield at 400 pounds to 100 barrels of oil.¹

      Food. – Their food consists of fish and crustaceans scooped up at the surface. When feeding they are most easily captured. The time and place of breeding have already been spoken of. "In the mating season," writes Scammon, "they are noted for their amorous antics. At such times their caresses are of the most amusing and novel character, and these performances have doubtless given rise to the fabulous tales of the swordfish and thrashers attacking whales. When

lying by the side of each other, the Megaptcras frequently administer alternate blows with their long fins, which love-taps may on a still day be heard at a distance of miles. They also rub each other with these same huge and flexible arms, rolling occasionally from side to side, and indulging in other gambols."

      Humpback Whales In New England. – The Humpback Whale was formerly a frequent visitor to the waters of New England, but of late years has not often been seen. Captain Atwood tells me that a great many have been killed near Provincetown within his recollection: that is to say, or since 1817. One harpooned in the harbor in 1840 yielded fifty-four barrels of oil. Two were killed in the spring of 1879, with bomb-lances.

      This species is the most valuable of the ordinary whales of the region, though, of course, far inferior to the right, whale. In addition to the oil, the baleen or whalebone is of some worth. In past years it has sold for as much as six and one-quarter cents a pound. It rarely exceeds two feet in length and is not very elastic. The shore fishery of Cape Cod, which was quite vigorously prosecuted in the early part of the last century, was probably largely concerned with this species

      In 1879 the Humpbacks were abundant on the coast of Maine. One of the most successful whalers out of Provincetown this season is the "Brilliant," a very old pink-stern schooner of seventeen tons, which had been hunting this species off Deer Isle, Maine. Up to September 1, she had taken four whales, yielding one hundred and forty-five barrels. The "Brilliant" carries but one whale-boat and tries out the oil upon shore, towing in the whales as they are killed. On the 14th of May, 1881, twenty Humpbacks were shot with bomb-lances in Provincetown harbor.

      "The Humpback," says Douglass, of the New England whales, in 1748, "has a bunch in the same part of his back, instead of a fin. The bone is not good; makes fifty to sixty barrels oil."

      The oil of the Humpbacks is said by Bennett to be superior to that from the right whale, and but little less valuable than sperm oil.

13. THE SULPHUR-BOTTOM WHALES.

      Distribution and movements. – The Sulphur-bottom Whale of the Pacific coast, Sibbaldius sulfureus Cope, is said to be the largest known cetacean.¹ Its name and that of its related Atlantic species, S. borealis (Fischer) Geoffroy, is derived from a yellowish tint upon the white belly. The Atlantic Sulphur-bottom, which is also called by English whalers the "Flat Back," does not grow to the immense size characteristic of the Pacific form. In the Atlantic, the Sulphur-bottom is not uncommon, though rarer than the humpback and finback. On the coast of the Californias, writes Scammon, it occurs at all seasons, and from May to September is often found in large numbers close in with the shore, at times playing about ships at anchor in the open roadsteads, near islands or capes, but, as a general rule, not approaching vessels with the same boldness as the finbacks. It glides over the surface of the ocean, occasionally displaying its entire length. When it respires its vaporous breath ascends to such a height that its immense size is evident to the observer. It is occasionally captured with a bomb-lance, but never except by aid of the bomblance. Being considered the swiftest of all whales, it is seldom pursued, and still more rarely taken.

      The Sulphur-bottom of the Atlantic resembles the finbacks in shape and habits, and is probably often confounded with them by those who see it swimming. Captain Atwood informs me that none have been seen near Provincetown of late years. Professor Baird obtained a fine skeleton at Nantucket in 1875 (No. 16039, U. S. N. M.). Captain Atwood writes: "Like the finback, it

has on its back a very small dorsal fin. Being very much elongated, it is a swift runner and hurries through the water with a velocity so great that the whaleman cannot kill them in the same way that they take the other species. I have never seen it dead and know but little about it."¹

14 THE FINBACK WHALES.

      Distribution. - – The Finback Whales of the Atlantic, Sibbaldius tectirostris Cope, and S. tuberosus Cope, are closely related to the sulphur-bottoms. The former is the most common of the larger cetaceans in Massachusetts Bay, and half a dozen or more may be seen in an afternoon's cruise any sunny afternoon of summer. They become abundant in the Gulf of Maine soon after the beginning of April. They swim near the surface, often exposing the back for half its length, and I have several times seen them rise within fifty feet of the yacht on which I stood. September 12, 1 four were swimming and spouting in Provincetown Harbor.

      The skeleton obtained by the Fish Commission in 1875 (No. 16045, U. S. N. M.) belongs to the species whose name heads this paragraph. The Museum of Comparative Zoology also has a specimen, taken at Provincetown, forty-seven feet long, which yielded eighty barrels and fourteen gallons of oil.

      Movements. – Captain Atwood tells us that Finbacks are rapid swimmers and are not often attacked by the whalers. They "run" so hard that the boats "cannot tow to them," and it is impossible to get up to them to lance them. They sometimes strand on the shore, and of late years a few are occasionally killed with a bomb-lance in the spring. One was lanced one autumn, about the year 1868 by boats pursuing blackfish. It was sixty feet long, and made about twenty barrels of oil. The "bone" is shorter than that of the humpback, and is of little value.² When lanced, not being oily enough to float at once, they sink and remain at the bottom for a few days, during which time much of the blubber is eaten off by sharks. They yield very little oil.

      Abundance in New England. – Two ran ashore some years ago in Provincetown Harbor, one of which yielded fourteen, the other twenty barrels of oil. One killed at Provincetown, though fifty-four feet long and a good fat whale of its kind, yielded only twenty barrels of oil.³

      The Dubertus. – An interesting question regarding the name by which this whale was known in the early days of the American colonies has recently been discussed.

      The charter of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, granted in 1663 by Charles II, provides, among more important rights and privileges:

      "And further, for the encouragement of the inhabitants of our sayd collony of Providence Plantations to sett upon the businesse of takeing whales, itt shall bee lawefull ffor them, or any of them, having struck whale, dubertus or other greate ffish, itt or them to pursue unto any parte of that coaste, and into any bay, river, cove, creeke or shoare belonging thereto, and itt or them upon the sayd coaste, or in the sayd bay, cove, creeke or shoare belonging thereto, to kill and order to the best advantage, without molestation, they makeing noe wilfull waste or spoyle, anything in these presents conteyned, or any other matter or thing, to the contrary notwithstanding."

      In answer to a letter of inquiry from Professor Baird, Professor Trumbull wrote as follows:

      Dear Professor Baird: Your query of January 29 just now comes to hand. Isn't that troublesome Dubertus rhodinsulensis satisfactorily disposed of yet? More than twenty-one years ago (in November, 1858) the Rev. S. C. Newman, of Pawtucket, questioned Professor Agassiz on the subject. His reply was, that having looked in the only work in which he supposed the desired information was likely to be found – Nemnich's Pollyglotten Lexicou – he could only say that it did not even contain the name "Dubertus." The correspondence, so far unsatisfactory, was printed in the "Providence Journal," December 9. The next day the Hon. Albert G. Greene wrote to the "Journal" that "before and at the time of the granting of the charter of Rhode Island, 'Dubertus' was the word used to distinguish the sperm whale from the common or right whale," and referred for his authority to the description given by Sir Thomas Browne "of the spermaceti whale," which "mariners (who are not the best nomenclators) called a Jubartas, or rather Gibbartas." Mr. Greene came very near being right, and undoubtedly was right in identifying the "Dubertus" of the charter with the "Jubartas" or "Gibbartas" of the old whale fishermen; but he was wrong on the main point that either "Jubartas" or "Dubertus" was a distinctive name of the sperm whale, except by a "vulgar error" of the Norfolk mariners, who, as Sir Thomas Browne understood, "are not the best nomenclators." The "Jubartas," "Gibbartas," or "Gubartas" – as the name which, by an error of the engrossing clerk, appears as "Dubertus" in the Rhode Island charter, was variously written by naturalists in the seventeenth century – was a Finback, the "Balaena Nova Angliae" as Klein calls it, the "Jupitervisch" of the Dutch whalers, Balaenoptera Jubartes of Lacepede. (The last name I heard for it was, I think, Sibbaldius tuberosus; but this was a year or two ago, and it may have been rechristened a dozen times since then.) The name, however, has been applied to more than one species of Finback, for naturalists, when dealing with cetacea, were not, in the last century, much better "nomenclators" than the English mariners; but it has always been restricted to the Balaenopteridae, and has never designated any species of either sperm or right whales.

      The history of the name is curious. Rondelet ("De Piscibus" lib. xvi, p. 482) gives a figure of a "Balaena Vera" (drawn from life, he says) which "the whale fishers of Saintonge call Gibbar, a Gibbero Dorso, that is, raised in a hump, on which is the fin." From this provincial name came Gibbartas, Gubartas, Jubart, Jubartes, Jupiter, and half a dozen other corruptions, introduced first among mariners, and afterwards adopted or recognized as synonyms by naturalists, and distributed among three or four different species.

      Lacepede, under Balaenoptera Jubartes, includes Balaena boops (Gmelin), and "probably the sulphur-bottom of the west coast of North America," the Jubartes of Klein, and the Jupiter Fisch, described by Anderson, as well as Baleine Jubarte of Bonnaterre (Encyc. Meth.).

      Klein ("Misc. Pise," 11,13) says that the whale catchers have corrupted the name of the Jupiter, or Piscis Jovis, to Jubartes, which is reversing the actual process of corruption. He calls this the "Whale of New England."

      Anderson, cited by Lacepede, in "Nachrichteu von Island, Gronland, etc.," p. 220, describes " the Jupiter or Jupiterfisch " as a kind of fin-fish, saying that its name, without doubt, comes from that of Gubartes or Gibbartas, which has been given it by others, and which is itself a corruption of the Biscayan Gibbar,

      But Lacepede makes "Balaena nodosa," "Humpback Whale of the English," and Balaena gibbosa," the Whales of New England, and refers to Bonnaterre. who separates le Gibbar, Engl. Finfish, from la Jubarte B. boops. Between Gibbar and Gibbosa, Jupiter and Gubartus, the things get rather mixed.

      Cranz, in his history of Greenland (Engl, transl., vol. i, p. 110) describes "the Jupiter Whale, which the Spanish whale fishers call more properly Gubartas, or Gibbar, from a protuberance, gibbero, which grows towards the tail, besides the fin."

      Returning to the "Dubertus" of the charter, Senator Anthony will see how easy it was for an engrossing clerk to mistake the initial "G," in seventeenth century chancery-hand, for a "D," in an unfamiliar name. A more troublesome mistake was made by the engraver of the seal of the Massachusetts Bay Company, which obliged Governor Winthrop always to describe himself, in official papers, as governor of the Company of Mattachusetts Bay, etc.

and grew up without parental care, which has caused a slight modification. The most prominent feature is that in its dorsal ridge, near the tail, there are a number of small projections or bunches, having some resemblance to the teeth of a saw. It has no dorsal fin or hump on its back."¹

      Douglass, writing in 1748, also mentioned the Scrag and the humps upon its body.

      Cope has formed for this whale the genus Agaphelus, and it stands in the lists under the name Agaphelus gibbosus [Erxl.] Cope.

      The Scrag is of special interest on account of its influence in first developing the whaling industries of Nantucket. Macy, the historian of the island, states that in the very early days of that colony, prior to 1672, "A whale of the kind called the Scragg came into the harbor and continued there three days. This excited the curiosity of the people and led them to devise measures to prevent his return out of the harbor. They accordingly invented and caused to be wrought for them a harpoon with which they attacked and killed the whale. This first success encouraged them to undertake whaling as a permanent business; whales being at that time numerous in the vicinity of the shores."²

      Scammon remarks: "Our observations make it certain that there is a 'Scrag' Right Whale in the North Pacific which corresponds very nearly to that of the Southern Ocean, . . . and which yields a paltry amount of oil."³ No identification of this form has yet been made. Dieffenbach states that in the southern seas "Scrags" is the whalers' name for the young of the right whale.⁴

16. THE CALIFORNIA GRAY WHALE.

      Distribution. – The California Gray Whale, Rhachianectes glaucus Cope, called by whalemen "Devil-fish," "Hard Head," "Gray Back," "Rip Sack," and "Mussel Digger," though long known to fishermen, was first described in 1869, from specimens brought to the United States National Museum by Capt. W. H. Dall, of the United States Coast Survey. The only account of its habits is in Scammon's book, already often quoted. Its range is from the Arctic Seas to Lower California. From November to May it is found on the California coast, while in summer it resorts to the Arctic Ocean and the Okhotsk Sea. In October and November it is seen off Oregon and Upper California, returning to warm water for the winter.

      Habits. – They follow close along the shore, often passing through the kelp, and congregate in the lagoons of the southern coast, where they are the objects of the extensive lagoon or bay whale fishery.

      Abundance. – Their abundance in former years and at present was thus discussed by Captain Scammon in 1874: "It has been estimated, approximately, by observing men among the shore whaling parties that a thousand whales passed southward daily from the 15th of December to the 1st of February, for several successive seasons after shore whaling was established, which occurred in 1851. Captain Packard, who has been engaged in the business for over twenty years, thinks this a low estimate. Accepting this number without allowing for those which passed off shore out of sight from the land, or for those which passed before the 15th of December, and after the 1st of February, the aggregate would bo increased to 47,000. Captain Packard also states that at the present time the average number seen from the stations passing daily would not exceed forty. From our own observation upon the coast, we are inclined to believe that the numbers resorting annually to the coast of California from 1853 to 1856 did not exceed 40,000 – probably not over 30,000; and at the present time there are many which pass off shore at so great a distance as to

be invisible from the lookout stations; there are probably between 100 and 200 whales going southward daily from the beginning to the end of the 'down season' (from December 15 to February 1). The estimate of the annual herd visiting the coast is probably not large, as there is no allowance made for those that migrate earlier and later in the season. From what data we have been able to obtain, the whole number of California Gray Whales which have been captured or destroyed since the bay whaling commenced in 1846 would not exceed 10,800, and the number which now periodically visits the coast does not exceed 8,000 or 10,000."¹

      On another page he writes: "None of our whales are so constantly and variously pursued as this; and the large bays and lagoons where these mammals once congregated, brought forth and nurtured their young, are already nearly deserted. The mammoth bones of the California Gray lie bleaching on the shores of these silvery waters, and are scattered along the broken coasts from Siberia to the Gulf of California; and ere long, it may be questioned whether this mammal will not be numbered among the extinct species of the Pacific."²

      Size. – The male attains the average length of thirty-five feet, while the female grows to forty or more. A female forty-four feet long and twenty-two feet in circumference is considered large, though some still greater have been caught, yielding sixty or seventy barrels of oil. The average yield of the male is twenty to twenty-five barrels. The baleen is light brown or nearly white, coarse-grained, with a heavy, uneven fringe, the longest strips measuring from fourteen to sixteen inches. The blubber is solid and tough, reddish in color, and from six to ten inches thick.

      Food and reproduction. – The nature of the food of the California Gray Whale is not satisfactorily known, though it is reasonable to suppose that it consists of surface animals, strained out by the baleen.

      They breed in the winter, the females entering the California lagoons, while the males remain outside. To their disturbance on their breeding grounds may be attributed the great diminution in numbers. The period of gestation is about a year. After the young are born, male and female and calf are seen working northward together, and Scammon thinks that they bear young only once in two years.

      Capture. – The habit of frequenting shoal bays is peculiar to this one species. They are often seen among the breakers, where they are tossed about by the groundswell, and where the water is hardly deep enough to float them. The pursuit of this whale is very dangerous, owing to their savage disposition and the shoalness of the water into which they are followed. The Eskimos and Indians of the Northwest kill many, using their flesh for food and their skins for clothing.

George Brown Goode.
      The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States
Section I: Natural History of Useful Acquatic Animals; with an Atlas of two hundred and seventy-seven plates. Text.
Washington: Government Printing Office, 1884.

George Brown Goode.
      The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States
Section I: Natural History of Useful Acquatic Animals; with an Atlas of two hundred and seventy-seven plates. Plates.
Washington: Government Printing Office, 1884.

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