The Progressive Science Series Edited by F. E. BEDDARD, M.A., F.R.S. (tAmerican Editor — PROFESSOR J. McK. CATTELL) A BOOK OF WHALES By F. E. BEDDARD, M.A., F.R.S. THE PROGRESSIVE SCIENCE SERIES Edited by F. E. BEDDARD,- M.A., F.R.S. (^American Editor — PROFESSOR J. Me K.. CATTELL, M.A., PH.D.) A LIST OF THE VOLUMES ALREADY PUBLISHED THE STUDY OF MAN : AN INTRODUCTION TO ETHNOLOGY. By PROFESSOR A. C. HADDON, D.Sc., M.A., M.R.I. A. Illustrated THE GROUNDWORK OF SCIENCE. By ST. GEORGE MIVART, M.D., PH.D., F.R.S. EARTH SCULPTURE. 'By PROFESSOR GEIKIE, LL.D., F.R.S. Illustrated RIVER DEVELOPMENT AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE RIVERS OF NORTH AMERICA. By PROFESSOR I. C. RUSSELL. Illustrated VOLCANOES. By PROFESSOR BONNEY, D.Sc., F.R.S. Illustrated BACTERIA. By GEORGE NEWMAN, M.D., F.R.S. (Edin.), D.P.H. (Camb.). Illustrated IN COURSE OF PRODUCTION HEREDITY. By J. ARTHUR THOMSON, M.A., F.R.S.E. Author of "The Study of Animal Life," and co-author of " The Evolution of Sex." Illustrated THE ANIMAL OVUM. By F. E. BEDDARD, M.A., F.R.S. (the Editor). Illustrated THE REPRODUCTION OF LIVING BEINGS : A COMPARATIVE STUDY. By MARCUS HARTOG, M.A., D.Sc., Professor of Natural History in Queen's College, Cork. Illustrated THE STARS. By PROFESSOR NEWCOMB. Illustrated MAN AND THE HIGHER APES. By DR. KEITH, F.R.C.S. Illustrated METEORS AND COMETS. By PROFESSOR C. A. YOUNG THE MEASUREMENT OF THE EARTH. By PRESIDENT MENDENHALL EARTHQUAKES. By MAJOR DUTTON PHYSIOGRAPHY : OR THE FORMS OF LAND. By PROFESSOR DAVIS THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE. By C. J. PIERCE GENERAL ETHNOGRAPHY. By PROFESSOR BRINTON RECENT THEORIES OF EVOLUTION. By PROFESSOR BALDWIN LIFE AREAS OF NORTH AMERICA : A STUDY IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS. By DR. C. HART MERRIAM AN INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE BRAIN AND COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY. By PRO- FESSOR JACOJJES LOEB, Director of the Hull Physiological Laboratory of the University of Chicago PLANETARY MOTION. By G. W. HILL, Pn.D. INFECTION AND IMMUNITY. By GEORGE S. STERNBERG, M.D., Surgeon- General of U.S. Army AGE, GROWTH, SEX, AND DEATH. By PROFESSOR CHARLES S. MINOT, Harvard Medical School Other -volumes "will be announced as arranged, and the series in its entirety •will comprise volumes on every branch of science. A BOOK OF WHALES BY F. E. BEDDARD, M.A., F.R.S. WITH FORTY ILLUSTRATIONS BY W. SIDNEY BERRIDGE NEW YORK G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 1900 PREFACE SO far as I am aware there is no recent general work of a comprehensive kind dealing with the Cetacea in the English language. There are, of course, sections devoted to this group in many Natural Histories, such as the Royal Natural History of Mr. Lydekker, Cassell's Natural History, The Standard Natural History, etc., as well as the long section contained in Sir William Flower and Mr. Lydekker's Mammals, Recent and Extinct. I think, therefore, that there is at present a distinct gap to fill on behalf of those who would have in a comparatively small compass a general account of this group of mammals, and a selection of the voluminous literature which relates to that group. I have attempted to perform this task, and to steer a course between too much exposition of technical facts and a too popular account of whales. I have aimed at producing a solid book tempered by anec- dote. It need hardly be pointed out that this book is not a monograph of the Cetacea ; but on the other hand, I hope that at least the main facts of structure and mode of life of these creatures will be found in the following pages. Whales are, from many points of view, so inter- esting and remarkable a group of animals, that no apology is, in my opinion, needed for devoting a whole volume to them. It may be suggested, how- ever, that desirable though a book devoted to the whales may be, it has not a place in a series like viii PREFACE the Progressive Science Series, which is devoted to the exposition of larger subjects than the present appears at first sight to be. It has, however, been my attempt in the present volume to endeavour to illustrate by means of the group of whales a very important biological generalisation, the intimate rela- tion between structure and environment. No group shows this to a more striking degree than that with which I have occupied myself. The section on the Delphinidae will, I fear, be found less interesting than those relating to other subdivisions of the whale tribe. They are not, as a rule, sufficiently well known to have accumulated much anecdote ; and the structural differences present nothing of importance save to the systematist. How- ever, it is clearly necessary to include them, as they form the bulk of the known Cetaceans. Their synonymy, too, is perplexing and far from settled. I have, as will be seen, followed True in the main, adopting some subsequent alterations of his views. As the present volume is not in any sense a catalogue of whales, I have forborne from giving a synonymy in the orthodox way ; but I have mentioned most of the names which have been at one time or another applied to dolphins. Those who desire to pursue this portion of the subject further can refer to Mr. True's account of the family Delphinidae, which is frequently referred to in the text. I may remark, finally, that a large number of the actual facts have been verified, and that here and there some small details appear which have not been hitherto recorded. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAGE THE EXTERNAL FORM OF WHALES i CHAPTER II. SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES . . . -37 CHAPTER III. A COMPARISON OF WHALES WITH OTHER AQUATIC MAMMALS 85 CHAPTER IV. THE POSITION OF WHALES IN THE SYSTEM AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION . . . • • • 95 CHAPTER V. THE HUNTING OF WHALES . . ... 107 CHAPTER VI. THE RIGHT WHALES . . . . . . 117 CHAPTER VII. THE RORQUALS . . . . . 144 CHAPTER VIII. THE TOOTHED WHALES OR ODONTOCETI . . . 172 x CONTENTS CHAPTER IX. PAGE BEAKED WHALES . . . . . . 210 CHAPTER X. THE DOLPHINS . . . ... 237 CHAPTER XI. ANOMALOUS DOLPHINS . . ... 293 CHAPTER XII. ZEUGLODONTS AND THEIR ALLIES . ... 307 INDEX . . . . ... 312 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIG. PAGE A stranded Rorqual (?). (From Olaus Magnus) . . Frontispiece 1. Embryo of Porpoise to illustrate form of Tail. (From Kiikenthal) To face g 2. Hand of Balanoptera musculus, showing disappearing ringer. (From Ktikenthal) . . . ,, 9 3. Hand of Beluga, showing commencing bifurcation of ringer. (From Kiikenthal) . ,, 9 4. Skeleton of Right Whale. (From Nat. Hist. Mus. Guide] . 25 5. Embryo of Neo/neris, showing dorsal dermal plates. (From Kiikenthal) . . . . . . ,, 32 6. Portion of dorsal fin of Porpoise, showing dermal ossicles. (From Kiikenthal) . . ,, 32 7. Portion of skin of Neomeris, showing dermal ossicles. (From Kiikenthal) . . . . . . ,, 32 8. Cervical vertebras of Right Whale (From van Beneden and Gervais) . . . ... 39 9. Series of breast-bones of Toothed Whales. (From van Beneden and Gervais) . . . ... 43 10. Breast-bones of Whalebone Whales. (From Fischer) . ,, 44 11. Skull of Etirhinodelphis cochetenxii, lateral view. (From van Beneden and Gervais) . . ... 51 12. Tympanic bones. (From van Beneden and Gervais) . . ,, 53 13. Shoulder-blades of Whales. (From Fischer) . ,, 53 14. Fcetus of Beluga. (From O. Mitller) . . . . ,, 56 15. Stomachs of various Cetacea. (From Jungklaus) ,, 60 16. Series of lower jaws to illustrate gradual diminution of teeth. (From van Beneden and Gervais) . ... 70 17. Embryo of Bahznoptera muscuhis, showing rudimentary teeth. (From Kiikenthal) . . . . . ,, 76 18. Head of Bal&noptera, showing whalebone. (From a specimen in the Nat. Hist. Museum) . . ,, 83 19. Skull of Bal ' Professor Kiikenthal made the important observation that here and there scattered over the general body surface on the ventral as well as on the dorsal side were similar, but rather more rudimentary, tubercles. It thus appears a fair conclusion that we have to deal here with a creature which has descended from an armoured ancestor, such as an armadillo. By this supposition it is of course not meant that the whales are the offspring of creatures exactly like the arma- dillo, or even referable to the same group of mammals -the Edentata — which includes that form ; it is merely meant to suggest that their ancestors were as completely armoured as the armadillo. Nor is this mere theory. It seems to be an undoubted fact that a fossil whale, called by Johannes Mliller Delphinopsis freyeri, has its body covered in many regions with small, closely-set tubercles. These tubercles are described as being " harder than stone, " and they must be comparable to the comparatively feeble tubercles which the descendants of this whale and its allies have retained to-day. THE BLOW HOLE The blow hole, or the blow holes (where there are two separate orifices), of the whale, are, of course, its nostrils. They are situated on the top of the head, as D 34 A BOOK OF WHALES a rule some way behind the front of the head, except in the Sperm whale. This is in accordance with the aquatic life. We see in such diverse types as the Crocodile and the Hippopotamus analogous arrange- ments of the nostrils, which allow of the animal coming to the surface to breathe, and at the same time exposing the minimum of its person to possible enemies. The blowing or spouting of a whale is, of course, the act of expiration ; it takes place, as the whale reaches the surface or just before, after an immersion more or less prolonged. But the real nature of this process has received more than one false interpreta- tion. Milton wrote — and probably many believe with him at the present day — of the whale who "at his gills draws in and at his trunk spouts out a sea." Olaus Magnus figures the spouting of a very large whale as a means of offence. His cut represents what may be a Sperm whale, maybe by reason of the teeth in the lower jaw only ; a quite unneces- sary frill of spines surrounds the head. But there are two spouts which overwhelm a ship whose bul- warks the whale has seized in his jaws. " The Physeter," observes this writer, whose Latin we attempt to translate, " raises itself above the masts of the ships and belches forth draughts of ocean from its blow holes in such a way that it overwhelms with this rainy cloud even the strongest ships, or exposes the sailors to the greatest danger." The older naturalists, including the archbishop from whom we have just quoted, regarded the blow holes as THE EXTERNAL FORM OF WHALES 35 apertures additional to the nostrils. According to Professor Kiikenthal it was the celebrated anatomist and embryologist, Karl von Baer, who in 1826 first showed clearly from anatomical considerations that the whale could not spout forth a volume of sea- water ; the water which does actually leave the blow hole is simply the breath of the creature condensed, mingled often with a little of the surface water of the sea, which the whale disturbs by commencing the act of expiration when still a little way beneath the surface of the water. Rapp, however, deservedly considered an authority upon the Cetacea, went back to the earlier view, and held that the spouting was a means of getting rid of the abundant water taken in with the food. After this date there were re- currences to the correct view, and again lapses there- from. There is now no doubt about the matter at all. As to the actual structure of the blow holes there are some important facts which must be dealt with, though briefly. The internal part of the nose in man and in other mammals serves an olfactory as well as a respiratory function. The sense of smell is there located. In the whales this sense, as is evinced by the structure of the brain, is rudimentary or absent, and the nostrils therefore have but one function to perform, i.e., that of taking in and expelling respira- tory air. Moseley (" Notes of a Naturalist on the Challenger"} described the blowing of a hump back which followed the Challenger for several days in the South Pacific : " The appearance of a whale's spout as seen from the 36 A BOOK OF WHALES level of the sea is very different from that which it has when seen from the deck of a ship ; it appears so much higher, and shoots up into the air like a fountain discharged from a very fine rose. The whale, of course, in reality does not discharge water, but only its breath ; this, however, in rushing up into the air hot from the animal's body, has its moisture con- densed to form a sort of rain, and the colder the air, just as in the case of our own breath, the more marked the result. When the spout is made with the blow hole clear above the surface of the water, it appears like a sudden jet of steam from a boiler. When effected, as it sometimes is, before the blow hole reaches the surface, a low fountain as from a street fireplug is formed, and when the hole is close to the surface at the moment a little water is sent up with the tall jet of steam. The cloud blown up does not disappear at once, but hangs a little while, and is often seen to drift a short distance with the wind. The expiratory sound is very loud when heard close by, and is a sort of deep bass snort, extremely loud and somewhat prolonged ; it might even be compared to the sound produced by the rushing of steam at high pressure from a large pipe." CHAPTER II. SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES VERTEBRAL COLUMN THE series of bones which constitute the vertebral column or backbone in the whales offer a number of peculiarities distinctive of the group. Like all other mammals (with inconsiderable ex- ceptions, Manatee, Sloth) the neck vertebrae are but seven in all. But in the whales these vertebrae are very generally partially or entirely fused together (Fig. 8), the degree of fusion also varying from species to species. Hand in hand with this melting together of the vertebrae goes a thinning of the actual vertebrae themselves, so that the neck region of the Cetacea is excessively short. They are the shortest necked of all mammals. It is, however, important to em- phasise the fact that the mysterious and "perfect" number seven, which characterises all mammals (with the very few exceptions already noted), is preserved in these exceedingly short-necked creatures. It is by a reduction of individual vertebrae, not by a dropping out of one or more in the series, that the neck is reduced in length. At first sight it is tempting to put down the remarkable consolidation of these 37 38 A BOOK OF 'WHALES neck vertebrae to the necessity for holding up the heavy head of the great whales. And it is un- doubtedly a fact that in the Right whales and in the huge -headed Physeter these peculiarities are seen in as exaggerated a form as anywhere. On the other hand, we must set against this the fact that in the great Rorquals there is usually a freedom between these vertebrae, which, in some species, is complete. A further consideration of the variations in the degree of fusion between the cervical vertebrae seems to point to the conclusion that the peculiarity is one which is, as it were, gaining ground, for the Platanistidae, which some other considerations lead us to regard as among the most primitive of existing Cetaceans, have all these vertebrae quite free ; between this extremity and that offered by the Right whales are almost every possible step in the fusion of the individual bones ; some, for instance, have two, three, etc., fused and the rest free. In fact, it seems difficult to explain this anomalous state of affairs by any adaptation to a particular need. Nor is it possible to seek for any explanation of the peculiarity by looking for its occurrence in any possible allies of the whales. If it were suggested that the Sirenia are creatures which are, so to speak, on the way to become whales — which connect the whales with the terrestrial Ungulates- — it might be urged that here, at any rate, is a trace of the same fusion of the neck vertebrae, for in the Manatee two of these vertebrae are thus fused. But we have, on the other hand, the Armadillos, where the same thing, SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES 39 precisely, occurs. And even in another group of vertebrates altogether, the Hornbill offers an example of a bird in which two of the cervical vertebrae are fused. We shall deal presently with some facts in which the Dugongs and Manatees resemble the whales, but FIG. 8. CERVICAL VERTEBR/E OF RIGHT WHALE. (From van Beneden and Gervais.) this view of the relationships of the whales is not one which at the present day commends itself to naturalists. It is a curious fact, however, that one of the most remarkable peculiarities of one of these Sirenia, the Manatee, i.e., the dropping of one cervical vertebra, already referred to, is hinted at in certain whales. The late Dr. Gray used as a specific, and even as a generic, character the fact that in some whales the first rib is a double structure, 40 A BOOK OF WHALES looking like two ribs melted together, and that one part of this double rib is attached to the last cervical vertebra. This looks like a commencing dropping out of the last cervical vertebra from its own proper series ; it has been partly, at any rate, transferred to the ensuing dorsal row. Another Sirenian feature in the cervical vertebrae of the whales is the slender- ness of the cervical series. This is seen not in the Manatee, but in the recently extinct Rhytina of Behring's Straits ; in that animal, however, the vertebrae are not in the least decree fused. o In all mammals, with the exception of the whales, the atlas is peculiar in that its centrum has broken loose, and has attached itself to the following vertebrae, the axis or epistopheus, from whose centrum it pro- jects as the "odontoid process." In whales, as a rule, this process is entirely wanting, but it is a significant fact that the most considerable rudiments of it exist in Platanista, and among the Platanistidae, upon whose probably basal position among the Cetacea we have already commented. The dorsal vertebrae among these animals are of course those which bear ribs, and their number varies much from species to species, or from genus to genus. Nine to sixteen are the limits of variation. The curious divergences in the mode of articulation of the ribs serve to divide the Cetacea; and under the description of the Sperm whale, the Inia, and some other types, the differences are dealt with. It has been pointed out that the Cetacea differ from the Sirenia by the fact that the latter have but few lumbar vertebrae, while in the SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES 41 Cetacea these same vertebrae are very numerous. But in I nia there are only three, a number which is repeated in the Manatee. In this connection it is interesting to recall the fact that in Rhytina, the most "cetacean" of the Sirenia, the lumbar region has increased to six vertebrae. As the pelvis (see p. 25) is so rudimentary a structure it is not surprising to find that there is no sacrum ; no lumbar vertebrae are fused to make the complex and firm mass of bone which in terrestrial creatures supports the arch of the hind limbs. As there is no sacrum it would seem at first a little difficult to define the commencement of the caudal series of vertebrae. Practically there is a difficulty, owing to the frequent incompleteness of skeletons in museums. But theoretically there is none, since the first caudal is provided below with a V-shaped ap- pendage of bone, the intercentrum or chevron bone. Professor Delage has also pointed out that in Bal. Trachea. c. Heart. La. Larynx. {To face page 56. SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES 57 in consequence of altered habitat. The lungs them- selves are characterised by their simple form. In the mammalia generally the lungs are more complex. They are divided into a number of separate lobes, the practical result of which is to increase the lung surface, without any corresponding need for an enlarged chest cavity to contain them in. The same result is brought about in the whale by the increased length of the lungs themselves. As already mentioned the chest cavity is proportionately larger than in terrestrial mammals ; therefore it follows that the lungs can be bigger without any lobulation. As a matter of fact they are. What is uncertain at present is whether the simplicity is a primitive feature in the organisation of these animals, or whether it is a reduction following upon the alteration of other con- ditions. It is exceedingly difficult to decide such matters. But before we attempt to decide, another important feature of the structure of these aquatic mammals must be mentioned. In many parts of the body of whales the blood vessels form to a very copious degree the anastomosing networks which are known technically as " retia mirabilia." A rete mirabile is produced by the breaking up of an artery into a meshwork of minuter arterioles. The net physiological result, so far as concerns the mechanical effects of such a breaking up, is the slowing of the blood stream at such spots, and the increase of the surface of blood exposed to the surrounding organs and tissues. It seems to follow from this that the oxygen contained in the blood would be more fully 58 A BOOK OF IV ff ALES utilised by the tissues through which the retia pass than in the case of a single tube. In fact, in the whale we have a state of affairs which in some degree suggests the respiratory conditions occurring in an insect, where the ramifying tracheae bring the air to the organs individually, instead of — as in the bulk of air-breathing animals — the air having to be ex- tracted from the blood by the tissues. These large reservoirs of oxygen within the body, and in close relation to various organs which need abundant oxygen, then do away with the need for an in- creased lung surface in these diving animals. But not altogether ; it looks as if the simpler condition of the lung had been retained, for in reptiles the lungs have the same simple unlobulated structure, the increase being simply brought about by an increased length rendered possible by the greater obliquity of the diaphragm. THE WHALE'S STOMACH It is a highly characteristic feature of whales, and one \vhich is absolutely universal, that they have an exceedingly complicated stomach. In man the stomach is simply a bent, somewhat U-shaped, wide region of the gut ; there is, however, a difference observable in the structure of the lining membrane between what is called the cardiac portion of the organ (so called because it lies nearest to the heart) and the distal pyloric region, out of which opens the intestine. As a rare abnormality, however, the SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES 59 stomach of man is divided by constrictions into three chambers.* Amono- rodents it is common for the o stomach to be divided into two more or less sharply marked off chambers by a median constriction. This chambering of the stomach is, however, carried out to a large extent only in the Sirenia (Manatee), the Sloth, the Ruminants (oxen, antelopes, deer, camels), and in the whales. It must not be at once concluded from this circumstance that the whales are related intimately to one or other or to all of these groups. We shall see presently that the divided stomach of the whales is essentially different from the divided stomach of the other animals. They simply have in common the bare fact that it is divided. But before proceeding to generalities it will be convenient to lay before the reader some of the facts. We cannot give here a detailed account of the stomach in the entire order. Dr. Jungklaus,f the most recent writer upon the subject, quotes no less than sixty-three memoirs, apart from his own, which deal entirely, or more or less incidentally, with the Cetacean stomach. To this memoir of Dr. Jungklaus' we must refer for additional details, and for this list of literature. The common porpoise may conveniently serve as a starting-point. Its stomach is among the least complicated, and it is clearly the most accessible of whales for study. In that creature the stomach has * WIEDERSHEIM, The Stmcture of Man. Ed. by Howes. Macmillan and Co. t "Der Magen der Cetaceen," Jen. Zeitschr., xxxii., p. i. 1898. 6o A BOOK OF WHALES the form which is indicated in a diagrammatic form in the accompanying sketch. The oesophagus opens into a wide blind sac, near to the upper oesophageal side of which opens out of this the second division of the stomach. At the lower end of this latter and in the thickness of its wall is a small passage, FIG. 15. STOMACHS OF VARIOUS CETACEA. (From Jungklaus.) Left hand fig., Common Porpoise. Right hand fig., Rorqual. Middle upper fig., Globicephahis. Lower fig., Hypothetical transitional form between two types of stomach. /, Chambers of stomach. 0, (Esophagus. P, Pylorus. PV, Entrance of bile duct. D, Duodenum. S, Spleen. AD, Ampulla duodenata. Dh, Bile duct. G, Boundary between first and second stomach. regarded as the third division, which leads into a long and rather narrow division of the stomach ; this is the fourth chamber ; it is curved in an undulating fashion, and from it arises the commencement of the small intestine, which commencement is dilated, and might be regarded by some as a fifth stomachal chamber were it not for the fact that into it opens the combined duct of the liver and of the pancreas. SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES 61 Beluga and the Narwhal have stomachs which o agree in many points with each other, and differ slightly from the porpoise. Those whales, as will be seen later, form a well-defined group of dolphins contrasting in other points with the remaining Delphinidae. In both of them the first division of the stomach is strongly divided into two separate chambers ; the minute third chamber of the porpoise stomach, simply in that animal an excavation in the thick wall of compartment II., is here larger, and a distinct chamber visible before the stomach is dissected. Finally, there is a fifth chamber, separated off from the fourth, and, like it, of an elongated in- testiniform shape. Of other dolphins, while Globicephalus and Grampiis are most like Monodon, Orcella is most like the common porpoise. So too are Platamsta and Pontoporia. The stomach of Bal&noptera musculus, our ex- ample of a whalebone whale, is constructed upon the same plan as that of those dolphins that have been already considered. It has four chambers like that of the porpoise, but the proportions are a little different. This will be observed from the accom- panying figure. It will be noted that the second chamber is larger than the first, and that the fourth o is relatively small. A still greater reduction is seen, according to Sir William Turner, in the stomach of Balcena mysticetus, at least in the foetus of that whale. The author just mentioned counted but three chambers in its 62 A BOOK OF WHALES stomach; the small intermediate chamber III. appears to be absent. The stomach of the Ziphioid whales is in one important respect different from that of the whale group that we have hitherto considered. The stomachs of the genera Hyperoodon, Meso- plodon, and Zip/tins have been carefully examined by more than one observer.* Berardius alone is as yet unknown as regards its "soft parts." As a general rule the Ziphioid whales differ from others in the very large number of compartments into which the stomach is divided. Nine, ten, even thirteen or fourteen divisions have been recorded ; and the varied statements which occur in the literature of the subject with respect to the exact number of com- partments in the stomach of a given species are not, it is thought, evidence of inaccuracy on the part of one or more of the describers, but simply an expression of actual variability. This, however, is a detailed difference. The most important difference is that the first division of the stomach gives off the second at its posterior and not at its anterior end. In the stomachs of the whales that we have been considering a cuttlefish or a herring when swallowed might, so far as anato- mical arrangement is concerned, pass at once into the second compartment as well as into the first, as will at once be seen in division No. II. That would be impossible in a Ziphioid. The first compartment * "The Anatomy of a Second Specimen of Sowerby's Whale" (Meso- plodon bidens), Joiirn. Ana/. Phys., 1885, p. 144. SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES 63 of their stomachs is large, and from it lead — from the opposite extremity, be it remembered, to that where the oesophagus enters — 6-13 smallish, round, orange- shaped cavities of which the last, that immediately preceding the duodenum, is often the largest. It is so, for instance, in Mesoplodon bidens. What, then, is the exact correspondence between the stomachs of these whales and those of the dolphins and whale- bone whales ? The inevitable conclusion is that the first compartment of the latter whales is missing in the stomach of the Ziphioids. This conclusion is not only supported by a comparison of the actual structures concerned ; as is so often the case, the solution of the problem is aided here by those occa- sional occurrences, so useful to the morphologist, of rudiments. In Hyperoodon Dr. Jungklaus has detected a small representative of the first stomach of other whales in the form of a slight caecal dilata- tion of the oesophagus just before it opens into the normal first stomach of that whale. This rudiment seems obviously to have the significance that he suggests. And, moreover, it showed internally a characteristic meandering arrangement of the folds of mucous membrane, an arrangement which is universal, or nearly so, in the first division of the stomach of dolphins. It appears, therefore, that the stomach of the Ziphioids is to be derived from that of dolphins, and not vice versa. This is in harmony with other considerations, which point to the Ziphioids as modified, not archaic, forms of whales. (See below.) 6 4 A BOOK OF WHALES We may now compare the complicated whale stomach with the complicated Ruminant's stomach. The latter, when typically developed, has the charac- ters shown in the following description : The oesophagus leads into a large paunch, the rumen ; it equally leads into a smaller pouch, the reticulum ; from this latter arises the psalterium, so called from the leaf- like arrangement of its folds of mucous membrane. Finally, there is the abomasum, the truly digestive part of the stomach. In having four compartments the stomach of a typical ruminant agrees with that of the porpoise. But at this point the agreement stops. The first three divisions of the Ruminant's stomach are clothed with oesophageal epithelium ; it is only the abomasum which is the truly digestive part of the stomach. Thus in the Ruminant the stomach may be regarded as being primarily divided into two regions, the last of which only is the digestive portion ; the first part is again sharply marked off into three regions. In the Cetacea, on the other hand, the stomach, although like that of the Ruminant divided primarily into two parts, shows a further subdivision of the digestive part which may be exceedingly complicated in the Ziphioids, while the non-digestive region is generally not divided at all, and if it is (i.e., Monodon, etc.), the division is not of so marked a character as in the Ruminants. Even in the Manatee the stomach is more ruminant than cetacean ; for the true digestive stomach, apart from its two cseca, is not divided. Thus the stomach of ruminant and cetacean have only this in common, SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES 65 that the stomach is primarily divisible into two parts ; but that is a universal character, and is indeed seen in other vertebrates, for example, in birds, sharks, etc. From such a simply-divided stomach as is seen in various Rodents, and in other types of mammals, both the Cetacean and the Ruminant stomach may have arisen, and the resemblances between them will in this case be an example of that frequent phenomenon in the organic world, convergence. To account for this likeness by convergence is a matter of interesting inquiry. The other com- plicated stomachs which are found in mammals are invariably associated with a vegetarian diet. The Sloth, the Oxen and Sheep, and the Manatee and Dugong are all vegetable feeders. The whales are most distinctly carnivorous animals. It has been suggested, however, that whales ruminate like oxen. This process (in the Rumi- nantia) consists of the following series of acts. The animal bites off and swallows an immense amount of herbage, leaves, etc., and swallows them hastily; the mass thus swallowed is permeated by the saliva and is then returned to the mouth, where it is thoroughly masticated at leisure, and re-swallowed to be properly digested. It is held that the Ruminantia, being as a rule timid creatures, who have to be on their guard against their numerous carnivorous foes, gain an advantage by this apparently complicated and even disadvantageously complicated act. They can lay in their store of food hastily and with rapidity, and then at a more convenient season, when danger 66 A BOOK OF WHALES is not so pressing, re-masticate and digest it at their leisure. Whales often feed among dense swarms of cuttlefish, Crustaceans, etc., and it might seem that here, too, a kind of rumination might take place. The immense amount of food swallowed might be kept in the first division of the stomach and regurgitated for subsequent chewing. The fact that a large number of seals and porpoises, perfectly whole and intact, were found in the first division of the stomach of an Orca seems to favour this hypothesis, as does also the statement of many that whales when captured generally allow some undigested, even unlacerated, food to escape by the mouth. But on the contrary view, which is that usually accepted, we must consider the structure of the mouth, teeth, and tongue, all of which have an important bearing upon the existence or non- existence of prolonged mastication such as charac- terises Ruminantia. The numerous and homodont teeth (see p. 68) are not fitted for chewing, they are fitted simply for catching and retaining slippery fish and squid. The great length of the jaw in many forms does not permit of the essential lever action of the jaws in chewing, and, finally, the immobile tongue is not of any use in aiding the performance of the function of mastication ; a mobile tongue is obviously required to push back the food as it escapes from between the teeth. It is thus practically certain that whales do not ruminate. But in that case, of what use is the first stomach, devoid as it is of glands ? In the ruminant SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES 67 it is a large storehouse ; in whales this would seem to be needless. It is thought that the first stomach of the whale is a chamber in which the food is to some extent broken up and softened by mechanical means ; it is analogous, in fact, on this view, to the bird's gizzard. The muscular layers of its walls are thicker than in the thin-walled rumen of the ruminant. Often, too, this compartment has been found to contain sand and stones, just as does the bird's gizzard, and for the matter of that, the stomach of the Sea-lion. This introduction of sand and stones may be accidental ; but, on the other hand, its presence may be explained as an accessory to the trituration of the food. It is obvious that a trituration of this kind and rumination are mutually exclusive. The balance of probability is in favour of the former action of the first stomach. But even now we have not accounted for the com- plication of the true digestive stomach. It is to be noticed, however, that here, as already stated, we are free from any analogy with the herbivorous stomach ; in the Sirenia and Ruminants this part of the stomach is not complicated. It is only the first part associated with the non-digestive functions of the stomach. This o problem, it is to be feared, we must leave unsolved. Finally, there is the fact of the absence of the first stomach in the Ziphioids to explain physiologically. Dr. Jungklaus thinks that this is associated with their exclusive diet of cuttlefishes, which require no stomachal "mastication." Their tissues are soft, and are easily digested by the digestive part of the stomach without any previous maceration and pressing. 68 A BOOK OF WHALES TEETH Whales are, as is well known, divisible into two groups— those with and those without teeth, the Odontoceti and the Mystacoceti of various authors. The Mystacoceti, however, the " whalebone whales," possess teeth in the young condition, while there are plenty of instances of the commencing disappearance of teeth among the Odontoceti. Thus the line which separates the two divisions of existing whales is not so hard and fast as was stated before recent dis- coveries in the growth of the teeth of these animals. Before considering the growth of the teeth, how- O <_> ever, it will be well to lay briefly before the reader the principal facts in the structure of the teeth of existing toothed whales. A very marked feature of their teeth is the charac- teristic "homodonty." This term, it should be ex- plained, is applied to teeth when the whole series is composed of teeth which are alike. In most mammals there is what is known as Heterodonty, i.e., the teeth are specialised in different directions. Thus in man there are the anterior incisors, cutting teeth, which are different in form and in function from the posterior cheek teeth, molars or crushing teeth. The differ- entiation is more emphasised still in some other animals, less so again in others. But on the whole the mammals stand apart from all other vertebrate animals by the fact of their Heterodonty. The teeth of a frog, of a snake, or of a lizard, are all more or less alike ; there is no possibility of speaking of SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES 69 incisors, canines, and molars. Another characteristic feature of mammalian dentition will be postponed until after the actual dentition of adult whales has been described and compared with that of other mammals. Broadly speaking, it is correct to define the toothed whales as mammals in which there is no specialisation of the teeth ; but there are some slight exceptions, which will be dealt with presently. The number, size, and position of the teeth of the Odontocetes varies, but the majority have a large number of smallish, conical teeth embedded in both upper and lower jaws. The actual numbers vary much ; the greatest number are seen in the genus Inia, where no less than 221 are reckoned up. As will be seen in the account of the different kinds of whales, the number of the teeth is often made use of as a generic character. Among the Delphinidae there are a gradual series of genera, in which the number of teeth gets reduced. It must not be imagined, however, that we can actually start from some such form as Inia, with abundant teeth, and derive from it the various genera in which the teeth are reduced> and arrange those genera in the order of this reduction. But it will be convenient to take them in such an order. Through a gradual reduction in the number we arrive at the genus Delphinapterus (the Beluga), where there are but nine teeth on each side of each jaw. In Grampus this dentition is still further re- duced ; the teeth in the upper jaw have disappeared altogether, and there are only a few, three to seven, on each side of the lower jaw, arranged near to the 70 A BOOK OF-WHALES symphisis of the mandibles. Another line culminates in the Narwhal, Mono don, where all the teeth have vanished in the adult animal save the well-known tusk, and an accompanying tusk of smaller size, some- times equally developed, in the upper jaw ; in this FIG. 16. SERIES OF LOWER JAWS TO ILLUSTRATE GRADUAL DIMINUTION OF TEETH. (From van Beneden and Gervais.) a. Beluga. b. Grampus. c. Berardius. d. Mcsoplodon. e. Monodon. SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES 71 case it is the lower jaw which has become edentulous. A second series of modifications is seen amono- the o Physeteridae, the Cachalot, and the Ziphioid whales. The Cachalot has functional teeth only in the mandible, where they form a row of strong conical teeth ; but in addition to these are a series of smaller teeth in the upper jaw, which are not to be seen in the dried skull, as they are not embedded in the bone, but only in the gum, which naturally is stripped off or decays away in the course of preparation of the skull for museum purposes. This kind of reduction is still further exaggerated in the Ziphioid whales. In all of these the number of teeth actually used is very limited, not more than two pairs — usually one pair, and those are limited to the lower jaw. But in addition to these there are in most, if not in all, Ziphioid whales a set of smaller teeth only in the upper jaw or in both jaws, which are — like the cor- responding teeth of the Cachalot — embedded only in the gum, and so are, as a rule, lost in skulls acquired by museums. These teeth are clearly on the wane ; and as even the teeth of the lower jaw are sometimes not extruded, and in other cases lost before the animal dies, it is evident that these whales are not so very far removed from the whalebone whales ; but it should be observed that they exhibit no trace of the com- pensating whalebone. So much then for the General modifications of the O teeth, as regards numbers, which are exhibited in the series of toothed whales. The question arises, Are those whales with the 72 A BOOK OF' WHALES most teeth the most primitive, and have they given rise to those with a reduced dentition ? Or is the converse true ? Or finally, is it safest to take the middle path and make two series, one ascending and one descending? Are, for instance, dolphins with a moderate number of teeth nearest to the ancestral form from which have arisen by multiplication on the one hand the Inia, and by reduction the Narwhal ? This supposition agrees in some ways more nearly with what we know of mammalian dentition in general. It has been pointed out that the typical mammalian dentition is heterodont. It is also limited in numbers, and those numbers are definite. Apart from the Marsupials (in which, moreover, fifty-six is the greatest number of teeth) and a very few other instances, no mammal has or had more than forty- four teeth. Even here there is nothing like the abundance of teeth of Inia or Platanista. Further- more, the numbers of teeth of the many-toothed dolphins appear to be not exactly fixed to a tooth or two ; whereas in the mammalia, as a rule, with but few exceptions (such as Priodon, an Armadillo, and the Manatee), the number does not vary, except, of course, in occasional abnormalities. On a priori grounds, therefore, (dangerous grounds sometimes on which to build an aroaiment intended to o last !), we should be rather disposed to regard the excessive dentition of the typical dolphins as not a primitive state of affairs, but one derived from some- thing more nearly approaching to what is characteristic of mammals in general. SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES 73 In a number of skulls belonging to various genera of Delphinidae with numerous teeth, Professor Kiiken- thal found here and there that the regular arrangement of the relative positions of teeth in the upper and in the lower jaw was lost. The regular arrangement is that the teeth of the two jaws should alternate — an obviously convenient arrangement for the due pre- hension of the fish or octopuses upon which they feed ; alternating teeth would be better able to lay hold of this slippery food. When this accurate cor- respondence ceases it is brought about by the inter- calation of teeth - - a proceeding which naturally increases the total number. If this process is going on now, there is nothing unreasonable in thinking that it has been going on in the past in corres- pondence, perhaps, with the increase in length of the jaws themselves. Thus the number of teeth in dolphins is greater now than it has been. They are, therefore, to be derived from creatures with fewer teeth, so far more like the typical mammalia. Another argument pointing in the same direction is afforded by the ancient Zeuglodonts, treated of more fully on another page. (See p. 308.) These Cetaceans had a dentition conforming in O number of teeth to the more typical mammalia. Their teeth were also more conformable to those of the mammalia generally in their heterodonty ; but we shall recur to this after considering the traces of heterodonty still remaining in the group of whales. Having dealt generally with the number of teeth 74 A BOOK OF WHALES among existing Cetacea, their shapes remain for con- sideration. As a rule the teeth of whales are simple and conical in form, directed either upwards or, rather, forwards. They resemble in fact the canine teeth of other mammals, not only in this shape, but in their being implanted by a single root. There are, however, a few examples of some, though not a great deal of, specialisation in the form of the teeth. In Inia Geoffrcnsis the posterior series of teeth have a distinct lateral cusp, so that they have ceased to be simply peg-like teeth. In the common Porpoise, Phocana communis, the teeth have broad divided crowns, which are sharply marked off from the root ; there is a reminiscence here of the more complicated teeth of ancestral forms, such as the Zeuglodonts. The extraordinary strap-shaped teeth of Mesoplodon layardi (see p. 220) and the tusks of the Narwhal need not be referred to in the present connection ; they appear to be simply exaggerations (perhaps originally pathological) of the simple con- ditions obtaining in other whales ; they are probably not to be looked upon as an inheritance from terres- trial ancestors. Professor Kukenthal has a theory that the simple teeth of whales are to be derived from the splitting up of more complicated teeth, such as are found in other mammals. In Zeuglodonts (called so on this very account) each tooth is formed of two pieces, each with its separate root. By division of these the more numerous teeth of a dolphin can be arrived at. But recent investigations into the Manatee seem SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES 75 to negative this theory, for in that animal an indefinite succession of complicated teeth occurs.* In almost all Mammalia the individual is provided with two sets of teeth ; there is the dentition found in the young ; this is later replaced by the dentition of the adult. The two sets of teeth are spoken of respectively as the "milk" and the "permanent" dentition. This is characteristic of the mammalia, and distinguishes them from lower vertebrates where O there is not this merely double dentition ; new teeth in the lower vertebrates are formed as they are wanted. If a mammal loses one of the teeth of the second series that tooth is not replaced. The relative importance of these two sets of teeth varies much. The milk teeth are sometimes only developed as rudiments, never of functional use, while in other cases the milk teeth persist for a long time, and are very distinctly functional. It has been even attempted to be shown that in the Marsupials it is the permanent dentition which is suppressed and only represented by rudiments, while the teeth of the full-grown animal o are the persistent milk teeth. This general character of the Mammalia has been described as "Diphyodont," and it was thought that by this the majority of mammals were to be distinguished from some that have but one set of teeth, and were accordingly to be termed Monophyodont. In some of the Edentata (the Sloth) it is still believed that only one set of teeth is ever produced ; and the same view was originally held about the toothed whales. There is, however, * See LYDEKKER and THOMAS, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1897, p. 595. 76 A BOOK Of- WHALES now not the least doubt that the Dolphins are truly diphyodont mammals, thus conforming' in a very important character to their terrestrial allies. But it is not quite settled which of the two dentitions it is that persists. It is held by Kiikenthal that the dental series of whales belongs to the milk dentition. Thus the whales are clearly descendants of purely diphyodont mammals. We have now to consider the whalebone whales, which, in the adult condition, have no teeth, only the plates of baleen, which will be treated of on another page (p. So). As long ago as the year 1807 Geoffroy St. Hilaire discovered the rudiments of teeth in a fcetus of the Greenland whale, Balcena my slice tus ; and this important discovery was afterwards confirmed by the great Cuvier, as well as by his less-known brother, Frederick Cuvier. Since then the facts have been confirmed by others. (PI. VI.) The first discoverers of the facts contented them- selves with little more than a statement of them. But later Professor Julin laid great stress upon the ad- ditional fact that the teeth of Balcenoptera rostrata which he examined were not merely simple conical teeth, but of a more complicated pattern ; he found teeth with one cusp (like those of Cetacea generally), with two, and even with three cusps. The simple teeth, moreover, were those in the anterior part of the jaws, the more complicated teeth further back. In fact, there is an obvious likeness to a set of in- cisors, followed by the more complicated cheek teeth. This arrangement is typical of mammals, and is found HI < Q. s I I o o f^ o SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES 77 in the Cetacean, Zeuglodon. An addition of great weight has been made to these discoveries by Pro- fessor Klikenthal, who found besides the fairly well- developed rudiments of teeth very rudimentary traces of a second dentition, thus showing that the whale- bone whales, like their toothed allies, are diphyodont like other mammals. Furthermore, he has given reasons for believing that in them, as in the toothed whales, it is the milk dentition which persisted longest, as it is represented by the most fully developed rudi- ments. THE BRAIN The brain of all whales presents a most unusual shape of that organ. It is very much compressed from before backwards, and is thus broader than it is long. It looks almost as if these creatures, rush- ing through the waves, had flattened their brains in the effort to oppose the weight of water. But though so much shortened and comparatively small in total bulk, the cerebral hemispheres of the Cetacea make up to some extent by the highly-developed convolu- tions of the brain surface. It used to be held, and the belief is often seen in popular books, i.e., books which deal loosely with the facts and inferences of science — that the furrows of a brain corresponded with its thoughtfulness ; that the higher the type the more abundant those grooves and furrows upon the surface, which separate the complicated system of ridges of brain substance known as the convolutions. It is, of course, perfectly true that the brain of the 78 A BOOK OF WHALES highest animal of all, man, is markedly and abund- antly convoluted. It cannot be said, however, that the titanic whale is largely superior in intelligence to the small and active Marmoset ; and yet, if the con- volutions of the brain were to be alone considered, this would have to be the opinion. For the Marmoset's brain is not far from being quite smooth, while we have already commented upon the markedly con- voluted character of that of the whale. The real relationship appears to be between size of body and complication of the brain's surface. And this is more obvious when nearly-related animals are compared with each other. The Marmoset, for instance, has a smoother brain than the Gorilla ; the Rhinoceros and the Hippopotamus have much more furrowed brains than the smaller Ungulates. Our whales are, curiously enough, an exception to this generalisation ; it cannot be said that the great Rorqual or Sperm whale has a brain which is at all definitely superior in the number of its convolutions to the brains of smaller whales. Can we in any way account for the curious shape and the great convolution of the brain surface in Cetacea ? In the first place it is as well to be convinced that they do want accounting for. This can hardly be doubted ; the singular shape of the hemispheres of the whale are so peculiar that they suffice to define the group ; there is nothing like it elsewhere among mammals. Then aram there are o o some reasons for considering the whales to occupy a low position in the mammalian series, reasons which will be dealt with on another page. We should expect, SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES 79 therefore, to find a lowish type of brain ; instead of this we are confronted with the most specialised. Nothing is more difficult in zoology than to arrive at convenient generalisations- - for the paradoxical reason that it is so easy to frame hypotheses. The expression "simplex sigillum veri," not composed for the purpose for which it is used, and yet used with such frequency in zoological writing, especially in the newer developments of what is called sometimes " Darwinism," has had a most deleterious effect upon speculation. A simple and obvious explanation often seems to such writers to settle the question at issue. And yet in the long run it seems to be plain that the processes of nature are not so simple. It is certain that the brains of some of the early and extinct forms of mammals were not only small but smooth. It is equally certain that their descendants -or at least allied forms subsequent in date — have not only larger, but more rumpled brains. The whales, we can fairly assume, are an ancient stock, and may have started even as "whales" with small and smooth brains. The requisite increase was brought about by a more extensive crumpling of the surface, while the small frontal bones and the larore O development of the facial region of the skull pre- vented the extension of the brain cavity forwards, its extension laterally being permitted partly by the non-union of the parietals above, and by the feebly- attached bony apparatus connected with the organ of hearing. It seems to follow further that the whales cannot be nearly related to any existing form 8o A BOOK OF WHALES of mammal as the brain development has pursued so different a path. Sir William Turner has pointed out that a large number of the smaller convolutions of the whale's brain are transverse to the long axis of that organ, which suggests that there has been, as it were, a tendency to grow forward in the ordinary mammalian fashion, but a check to the same growth, which has naturally resulted in furrows having the direction referred to. In any case the whale's brain is partly characterised by the features to which atten- tion has been called. It is also remarkable for the fact that in the toothed whales there is absolutely no vestige of those fore parts of the brain which are connected with the sense of smell ; while in the whalebone whales the same region is only feebly visible. It is sometimes erro- neously asserted that creatures living in the water cannot smell owing to the suspension in the water of the odoriferous particles ; but this is at once negatived by the case of fishes, which have a well-developed olfactory apparatus. Anyhow, whales have not ; but it is apparently not to be put clown to their marine habitat, one of the very few structures indeed which cannot be correlated with that mode of life. WHALEBONE The real nature of whalebone was frequently, like that of spermaceti, misunderstood in past times. Belon (translated by Scammon) wrote upon the matter as follows: "And that which is called whalebone SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES 81 ("coste de balene " ; literally, whales' ribs), with which ladies nowadays make their corsets and stiffen out their dresses, and which the beadles of some churches carry as wands — these are certain pieces cut off and drawn out from that which serves as eyelids for the whale, and which covers his eyes, and which is furnished at its extremity with a kind of long, stiff hair. This is what the Latins call the pretentures, and which they say enables the animal to direct his course through the sea." " The latter notion," as Sir William Flower points out, "is probably connected with the old feudal law cited by Blackstone, that the tails of all whales belonged to the Queen as a perquisite to furnish her Majesty's wardrobe with whalebone." Scaliger, too, in his commentaries upon Aristotle, ob- serves of whalebone, "In superciliis lamellas habet quae cum caput mergit attolluntur ab aqua : atque ita videndi potestas sit : ubi vero ex aqua exerit, concidunt lamellae, atque tegunt oculos." Probably this and the former view is due in part to the tiny eye which escaped attention, and indeed seems on account of the peculiar development of the skull to have an abnormal situation. Nevertheless, at the same period at which Belon wrote the accurate location of whalebone was under- stood. For Olaus Magnus described in a stranded Rorqual (?) the whalebone, of which he remarked : ' Palato adhaerebant quasi laminae corneae," and proceeded to point out that these laminae were not all of the same size, a fact which is well known to be the case with the laminae of whalebone. 82 A BOOK OF WHALES Later still whalebone was quite properly described by T. Johnson (in 1634) as "the finnes that stand forth of their mouths, which are commonly called whalebones, being dried and polished, serve to make buskes for women." Shakespeare, however, seems to have confused the true meaning of the term. He writes of "teeth as white as whalebone." But it is believed that by whalebone in this case is meant the tusks of the walrus, an animal which was often and at many times confounded with whales ; indeed, it is not always easy to decide whether a given illustration refers to this animal or to some large toothed whale, such as Orca. There is, however, curiously enough, some justification for accepting Shakespeare's epithet of white in a perfectly literal fashion, for in many whales the whalebone is white, or whitish in parts or altogether. The more celebrated Dr. Johnson, in the Dictionary (edition of 1818), defines whalebone as "the fin of a whale cut and used in making stays," thus reverting to earlier errors. It is, however, just possible that the stiff, tendinous tissue of the actual tail was made use of as a material for stiffening articles of wear. It is quite conceivable that when dried it might form a cheaper substitute for real whalebone ; the number of times that the expression " fin " is employed, and the evident know- ledge possessed by at any rate some persons who correctly located the true whalebone, may perhaps point this way. Whalebone has — it need hardly perhaps be re- marked— nothing to do with true teeth ; but it is LU H o .0 ta S •S S o ts &! •<• <3 8 2 « g I-IH o 00 o •*, 8 I SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES 83 distinctly analogous to the horny so-callecl teeth of the Ornithorhynchus. And it is an interesting fact that the whales show the same tendency observable in other groups of the animal kingdom to the replace- ment of teeth by horny structures. The horny teeth of the Platypus have their forerunners in the shape of true teeth, which are shed early. In birds the most archaic forms had true teeth ; but the birds of to-day have developed in their place the horny beak which characterises them. The whalebone whales start life with rudimentary teeth, which ultimately disappear on the appearance of the whalebone. (See p. 68.) The general character of whalebone resembles that of horns or hair. The colour is black or white or brown. The place where the whalebone is formed is the roof of the mouth, the palate. The plates of whalebone are triangular in shape, the base of attachment being broader than the lower, free extremity. The plates are attached by the broad base to the roof of the mouth, and they may indeed be regarded as an exaggeration of the ridges, often horny in character, which are found upon the roof of the mouth of all mammals. The plates are arranged in a direction transverse to the long axis of the mouth and are very numerous, as many as three hundred and seventy having been counted. The blades are longest in the middle of this long series, and gradually diminish towards both ends of the mouth. The outside of the blades, that turned towards the lips, is straight and hard ; the inner side is frayed out into innumerable hair-like processes. Thus an exceedingly efficient straining 84 A BOOK OF WHALES apparatus is formed. The fine hairs entangle the minute creatures upon which the Greenland whale feeds, and at the same time allows the water to escape through the sides of the mouth between the lips. A more detailed description of the mechanism of the whalebone in the Greenland whale will be found under the account of that whale. It has been suggested that certain transverse lines upon the plates of baleen are annual rings. In this event the Greenland whale lives to an age of nine hundred years ! The use of whalebone for ladies' stays, and formerly for the ribs of umbrellas, is well known. But it may be one of those things not so generally known that certain rich silks which "stand of them- selves" owe some of their firmness to very thin shreds of whalebone incorporated with the silk threads ! Another little known use of whalebone was its employment in the thirteenth century as plumes for helmets. This use is proved by two passages from William the Breton, where the Count of Boulogne is described as wearing upon his helmet the "Branchia Balaenae Britici . . . ponti." This reference has been collected by M. Fischer in his careful account of the Biscayan whale, to which further reference will be made below when that species comes to be treated of. Whalebone is still a costly article. Mr. Southwell, in an article in the Zoologist for 1897 (p. 56) upon the whale fishery of the preceding year, observes that the value of the "bone" was ^2000 per ton. As twelve Right whales produced 135^ cwts. of whalebone, the results of a successful whaling cruise are considerable. CHAPTER III. A COMPARISON OF WHALES WITH OTHER AQUATIC MAMMALS WHALES COMPARED TO SEALS IN the preceding pages a great deal has been said about the influence of environment upon structure, or to put the matter in a fairer way without pre- judging the issue, of the connection between en- vironment and structure. A study of other aquatic mammals, however, and a comparison of them with whales, brings out very clearly the fact that the organism is not moulded in precisely the same way in every case. It would be strange indeed if it were so, seeing that the material upon which the same influences have to work is different. The tribe of seals forms a very convenient starting- point in such a series of comparisons, for there is no doubt at all about the affinities of these marine Carnivora, and they show a series of stages of more and more perfect adaptation to an aquatic existence. It is easy, therefore, here to distinguish between structural features which are related to the aquatic life and those which are definite peculiarities of the group not so related. 85 86 A BOOK OF WHALES The "seals" unquestionably form a subdivision of the Carnivora to which — on account of the fin-like character of the fore limbs — the name of Pinnipedia has been given ; further than this, it is possible to place them nearer to the Bear division of the land Carnivora than to the other groups. The effects of a seafaring life are more plainly seen in the true seals than in the Walrus or the Sea-lions. The latter group in fact is a stage leading towards the more completely aquatic seal. In the true seals (Phocidae) the form is more fish- like ; the nostrils have come to lie upon the top of the head instead of terminally ; the external ears have completely vanished, the auditory organ being marked externally by a hole only ; the hind limbs are quite useless for progression on land, being quite bound up by integuments with the tail. The sea- lions can move with some rapidity upon dry land, since the hind limbs have not so nearly lost their original functions. The external ears are present but much reduced ; they vary, moreover, in the degree of reduction, being much larger in the Cape Sea-lion, Otaria pus ilia, than in the beast of Patagonia, Otaria jubata. In these external characters there are certain obvious resemblances to whales — the fish-like form, the disappearance of the conch of the ear, the form of the fin, which is even falcate in form in both groups of aquatic mammals ; the removal (in the seals) of the nostrils to the top of the skull, though not to a point so far back as in the whales ; these are WHALES AND SEALS 87 plain and obvious likenesses. There are others, which a closer study and comparison of the two groups bring to light. The flippers have no nails in the whales, though in the foetus traces of the structures o have been discovered by Kiikenthal. In the sea-lions the nails, though still recognisable, are exceedingly small, and not of the faintest use for scratching or any other nail function. This is not always the case with the true seals ; in Phoca, the seals of our coasts, there are well-developed claws on the hand, but on the other side we have the Antarctic genus, Ommato- phoca, with the fore limbs furnished only with quite rudimentary nails. The nails, therefore, may be fairly said to be disappearing in all these animals. Another feature in which there is a functional re- semblance between whales and seals is in the hind limbs. Considering that the latter are merely re- presented by tiny rudiments in the whales, the comparison may seem at first sight to be a little ridiculous. But there is, as has been observed, a functional likeness in spite of this obvious dis- similarity. The hind limbs of the seal tribe play the part of a tail ; they are extended beside the tail and act precisely as do the flukes of the tail in the whale ; it is by their means chiefly that the creature is propelled through the water. In the one group the unnecessary hind limbs have nearly disappeared altogether ; in the other they have, as it were, become part of the tail. It is evident that an aquatic beast does not need the usual two pairs of limbs ; the fact is shown also among fishes, but again in a different 88 A BOOK OF~ WHALES way from that which we see in whales and seals. In many fishes the hinder pair of limbs persists, but is moved forwards so as to lie in the same straight line, or thereabouts, with the anterior pairs of limbs. In primitive fishes, on the other hand, such as Cera- todus, the Australian mudfish, both limbs persist in what we have to consider as the normal position. It is exceedingly interesting to note that in the three groups cited a practically similar result is obtained in a totally different manner. In the last-mentioned character, therefore, as well as in others which will be dealt with presently, the seal tribe have pursued a different path towards the complete adaptation to the aquatic life to that followed by the whale tribe. But there is still a point remain- ing, among what are practically external features, in which the seals resemble to a certain extent the whales. It is usual among terrestrial mammals for the humerus to be longer, sometimes much longer, than the radius. On the other hand, with the sole exception of Inia, the whale's humerus is shorter than the radius. Dr. Mivart* has owen some O measurements of these bones in representatives of the three kinds of aquatic Carnivora, and his figures are as follows : "In the common seal, Phoca vitulina, the length of the humerus is 1 1 inches and that of the radius the same ; in Otaria jubata, the Patagonian sea-lion, the two bones measure respectively 23 and 24 inches. Finally, in the walrus the proportions are 30 and 23. It is curious to observe that the sea-lion is the most whale-like of the three types." * "Notes on the Pinnipedia," Proc. Zool. Sac., 1885, p. 485. WHALES AND SEALS 89 Now as to external features in which the seal tribe differ from the whales. In the first place the former have completely retained their hairy covering. There is no hint of a commencing baldness whatever. Moreover, there is not here a case of the substitu- tion of one organ for another that plays a similar part ; for the seals have an abundant layer of fat, and are pursued for purposes of oil as much as are whales. They have fur and blubber. Again, the extra length of digit required is not brought about in the Cetacean fashion by the increase in the separate phalanges of the fingers, but by the formation of cartilaginous extensions of the fingers beyond the nails. That these are beyond the nails shows that they are not comparable to the extra phalanges of the whales ; for the rudiments of nails, which have been discovered in whales, are terminally placed upon the hand. A peculiarity which the sea-lion shares with the whales is the great breadth of the scapula ; for some reason or other this seems to be useful to an aquatic animal, for it is in these two types that the scapula seems to attain to its greatest diameter. It is true that in Edentates the same bone is also very broad, and that it is relatively narrow in the Manatee ; but the breadth is most striking in the sea-lion and in the whale. But on a close comparison of the blade-bones of the two it is to be noticed that, in spite of superficial like- ness, there are fundamental differences. In the sea-lion it is the front part of the bone, that which lies headwards of the spine, that is expanded most ; 90 A BOOK OF WHALES in the whale it is precisely the reverse. Hence the same general result is brought about in a totally diverse way in the two orders of aquatic mammals. WHALES AND SIRENIA The Sirenia form the third most important and the last group of aquatic mammalia. They are a limited race to-day, though there are remains of more abundant genera in the past. Living now are only the two genera, Manatus and Halicore. The former are South American, West Indian, and West African; they are coast-living and fluyiatile animals, which browse along" the bottom of the sea or of rivers O upon algae. Thus is derived their name of Sea-cows. There seems to be four species of this genus. Halicore, the Dugong, is an eastern creature appar- ently of only one species. Most persons are aware that quite recently there lived on the shores of Behring's Straits a third variety of this group of mammals, the Rhytina, or Steller's Sea-cow. This has been extinct since about 1770. But, as its external characters are known, it may come into the following comparison of Sirenia with whales. The general form of the body of these sea creatures is not especially whale-like ; they offer, as it were, an intermediate, incomplete form, half-way between the purely terrestrial animal and the totally aquatic whale. Dr. Semon, who observed the Dugong in Torres' Straits, remarks of it that it appears to the eye "more fish-like than seals, and more mammal-like than whales." WHALES AND SIRENIA 91 The Dugong, however, and the Rhytina are so far whale-like in that they possess a forked tail, set, of course, as in whales, and not as in fish. In the Manatee the tail has another form, which, as has already been mentioned, is not unsuggestive of the tail of the foetus of certain whales. It is interesting to notice that here, as in some other points, the Dugong and the Rhytina are more whale-like, or at least more purely aquatic in their structural features, than is the Manatee. There is one small point of possible comparison between the whales and the Sirenia which seems to have been overlooked. It is well known that the upper lip of the Manatee is cleft vertically, and that the two halves of the upper lip thus divided act as a pair of grasping organs for the leaves on which the animal feeds. Rudiments of the same structure, which are much more pronounced in the foetus, also exist in the Dugong. Now it has often been noticed that in whales between the two blow holes is a furrow. It seems to be just within the bounds of possibility that this groove is a still further reduction of the same splitting of the lip which is so useful to the Manatee. Apart from this, however, we may notice that in the Sirenia the nostrils are superior in position, and that in Halicore they are more so than in Manatus. Another reason is to be seen here for regarding the Dugong as the more perfectly modified animal of the two. The external ear of the Sirenia has vanished, leaving only a minute ear-hole, as in the Cetacea. 92 A BOOK OF WHALES The body of the Sirenia is, however, more hairy than that of whales ; yet the hair is scant and coarse. Dr. Kiikenthal has discovered that formerly these animals possessed, in addition to the sparsely- scattered strong hairs, a covering of finer hairs. In these animals, therefore, as in the whales, the aquatic life leads to the loss of the hairy covering of the body, so characteristic of land mammalia. It may be mentioned, moreover, that the hairs are especially strong upon the upper lip, thus recalling the only hairs that are left in the whales, which clothe, or rather are found upon, the same region. Sweat glands, moreover, fail entirely, as in whales. Only in an embryo of Manatus latirostris did Kiikenthal find some after all rather doubtful traces of these glands. They are, of course, absent in whales. Finally (so far as concerns the skin), the sebaceous glands, such constant companions of the hairs in mammals generally, are beginning to vanish alto- gether in the Sirenia. They occur, however, though in a rudimentary shape, in the fcetus, while they are completely absent in the few hairs of the whales. As in the whales, the skin of the Sirenia is under- laid by a copious blubber, which doubtless plays the part, that should be performed by the hair, of pre- serving the heat of the body. It has, however, been remarked that in the Sirenia the blubber is unlike that of the whales in that there is no free liquid oil comparable to the spermaceti of the Sperm and other whales. The Sirenia have, like the whales, the fore limb of WHALES AND SIREN1A 93 a fin-like form. But there are differences in the completeness with which this metamorphosis has progressed. The Dugong has become more com- pletely aquatic in this particular than the Manatee. The latter, with the exception of the species M. inunguis, has preserved the nails upon the extremities of the fingers, while these have entirely disappeared in the Dugong. Moreover, in the latter genus the forearm no longer takes any part in the formation of this "fin" —a feature which, of course, is shared by the Cetacea. Professor Kiikenthal has, however, called attention to a curious similarity which exists between the hand of these Sirenians to that of the sea-lions, in the shape of numerous papillae and grooves upon the under surface. This is associated in the Otariidae with a partial life upon land, and the existence of these structures in the Sirenia seems to indicate a more recent abandonment of the terres- trial life than has been the case with the Cetacea, whose flippers are smooth. A reason for their re- tention, however, in the Dugongs is perhaps to be found in the fact that these creatures graze upon beds of seaweed as a Herbivorous mammal does upon a field of grass ; and the rough papillae prevent the animal from slipping when thus engaged in cropping its food. In the skeleton of the fore limb there are no strong resemblances to the whales, for the joints between the bones are well developed, and there are only slight beginnings of hyperphalangy, so characteristic a feature of the Cetacea. When we turn to the internal structure of the 94 A BOOK OP WHALES Sirenia, the resemblances which they exhibit to the Cetacea by no means disappear. The bony framework of the head is perhaps the part of the skeleton which shows most unlikeness in the two groups. And this fact is not without significance, for it is precisely in that region that external influence would not play so strong a part as it might well be supposed to do elsewhere. " The skull," remarks Professor Zittel,* "shows not the least resemblance to the Cetaceans." Nevertheless, the .nasal bones are much shortened, though that is a character found elsewhere. It is no use to give any detailed analysis of the skull and comparison with that of the whales. In the vertebral column the fusion of the second and third vertebrse of the neck must not be looked upon as being really a strong point of likeness to whales, since in the Edentata the same fusion occurs. More important, perhaps, as a likeness is the thin character of the centra of those vertebrse in Rhytina. The reduction in number of the ver- tebrae of the lumbar region is paralleled in Inia, which, as has been often remarked, would appear to be an early type of whale. More striking as evidence of likeness between the Sirenia and the Cetacea is the shortened sternum, and the fewness of the ribs attached thereto. But here again we may have to do with the need of powerful respiratory movements in these diving animals. As to the hind limb, it is instructive to notice that a pair of hind limbs do not seem to be at all necessary to swimming and diving creatures. * Handbitch der Palceontologic, Abth. I., Bd. iv. CHAPTER IV. THE POSITION OF WHALES IN THE SYSTEM AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION IN order to pursue matters in logical order we must go back, first of all, to the question raised before, Why is a whale not a fish ? For the sake of those who are not well versed in the facts of com- parative anatomy it may be convenient to state briefly a few main reasons for placing the whale among the Mammalia, and not only not among the fish, but also in a position remote from all other groups of verte- brated animals — that is, the Amphibia, Reptiles, and Birds. A whale is a hot-blooded creature, breathing by means of lungs, which lie in the interior of the body in a definite chest cavity, shut off from the rest of the cavity of the body (that which contains the intestines, liver, etc.) by a largely muscular partition- the diaphragm. It has (frequently) vestiges of the hairs which cover the bodies of other mammals in the presence of a few scattered hairs in the neigh- bourhood of the mouth. It brings forth its young alive, and suckles them with milk. The bones of the skull are precisely those of other mammals, and only differ slightly in their relative arrangement. These 95 96 A BOOK OF WHALES characters are quite sufficient for the present purpose ; many might be added to them of course. No creature which has these characteristics is anything but a mammal. One or two of them are wanting o in those lowest of the mammalian tribe — the Orni- thorhynchus and Echidna ; they do not bring forth their young alive, but lay eggs ; still, when born the young Echidna and Platypus are nourished by milk. Fishes— a very few of them — may have what are believed to be the representatives of lungs, and with which, indeed, they actually breathe ; but they have also gills, and the vast bulk have no breathing organs except these gills. Lungs are found higher in the series, but no diaphragm like that of whales until we get to mammals. But to go further than this, and to decide where- abouts in the longr series of mammals the whale tribe o should be intercalated, is a matter which is at present beyond our knowledge. We may, however, discuss the matter for a little in order to show the grounds of our ignorance. o From the sketch which has just been given of the outward form and the internal structure of whales, it will be apparent that the nature of the medium in which they live has profoundly affected the characters of the different organs. There is positively no part of the body, with the exception perhaps of the brain and the stomach, and one or two other points to be referred to later, that has not been evidently altered in some way, more or less, in different cases, to meet the changed conditions of life as we believe them to CLA SSIFICA TION 97 have been. There is, therefore, obviously some diffi- culty in ascertaining, or endeavouring to ascertain, what are the real differential characters of the group ; to separate, that is to. say, characters due to the environment and those which have been inherited from the long extinct terrestrial ancestor. The current definitions of the group Cetacea are obliged to be founded on these, as we must assume them to be, recently -acquired characters. To take one or two as examples. Professor Zittel* defines them in the following terms: "Naked, smooth - skinned, fish-like water- dwellers, with cylindrical body. Head not separable from the body. Nasal orifices on the upper side lying far back. Anterior limbs fin-like, hind limbs wanting. Tail fin horizontal. Milk glands abdominal in position." Messrs. Parker and Haswellt use the following o language : ''Aquatic Eutheria, with large head, fish- like, fusiform body, devoid of hairy covering, with the pectoral limbs paddle-like, the pelvic limbs absent, and with a horizontal caudal fin. A vertical dorsal fin is usually present. There is a long snout, and the nostrils open by two lateral external apertures or a single median one, situated in all recent forms far back towards the summit of the head. The cervical region of the spinal column is very short, and its vertebrae usually completely united together. Clavicles are absent. The humerus is freely movable at the shoulder, but all the other articulations of the * Handbuck der Palceontologie, iv., p. 155. Text-book of Zoology, vol. ii., p. 450. H 98 A BOOK OF WHALES limb are imperfect. The phalanges of the second and third digit always exceed in number the number (three) normal in the Mammalia. The pelvis is represented by a pair of horizontally-placed styliform vestiges of the ischia. Teeth may be absent and their place taken by sheets of baleen or whalebone ; when present they may be very numerous and homo- dont, or less numerous and heterodont, or reduced to a single pair. The epiglottis and the arytenoids are prolonged, and embraced by the soft palate, so as to form a continuous tube for the passage of the air from the nasal cavities to the trachea. The brain is large, and the cerebral hemispheres are richly con- voluted. The testes are abdominal. The teats are two, and are posterior in position. The uterus is two- horned ; the placenta diffuse and non-deciduate." This definition is more comprehensive, but it still does not state all those features in which whales differ from other animals, which are not clearly con- nected with the need for a fish-like form and life at times in great depths of the ocean. It seems possible to extract from what has been said here, as essential characteristics of the group, the following facts of structure :— In the Skull.— -The separation of the two parietals by the intervention of the supra-occipital, or their concealment by its overlapping. The overlapping of the muzzle generally by the premaxillse. The loose attachment between the various bones surrounding or connected with the organ of hearing. CLASSIFICATION 99 The absence or feeble development of the coronary process of the lower jaw. In the Fore Limb and Girdle. — The absence of clavicle. The Greater lenp-th of the radius and the ulna than o o the humerus. The frequent presence of the typical number of bones in wrist. The long and simple lungs. The unlobulated liver and complex stomach. The extraordinarily shortened, but much convoluted, brain. This combination of characters is found nowhere else among the mammals, and, indeed, the bulk of the peculiarities are confined to the whales. I might also perhaps have added some few others, and cer- tainly more than one characteristic feature might have been included in the list, had I not limited myself to those which occur both in whalebone and in toothed whales. As there is some idea to the effect that the two great divisions of the Cetacea have had a separate descent, even from unlike ances- tors, this had, however, better be deferred until after we have seen what can be done with the broader facts in settling the affinities of this highly puzzling group of creatures. It is to be feared that nothing can be done except, and that vaguely, to suggest an Ungulate - like ancestor. In them we have in some forms, at least the Ruminants, a highly complex stomach and a rather simple liver. But there is really nothing ioo A BOOK OF WHALES else of first-rate importance to make the comparison stronger. As undoubted whales occur back to the Eocene they have possibly come off from some earlier stock still, and Professor Albrecht has advanced and ingeniously supported the view that the Cetacea are the nearest thing now existing to the necessary, but unfortunately hypothetical, " Promammalia," the race which orave rise to all mammals. His arguments will o o be partly gone into here ; for at any rate they give some colour to a primitive ancestry of our whales, a result to which other considerations — chiefly the failure to tack them on even with probability any- where else — seem to drive us. Unfortunately, as a general rule, it is by no means easy to distinguish between simplicity which is the effect of degeneration and simplicity which may be fairly interpreted as a retention of earlier and simpler conditions of structure. Sometimes it seems to be obvious enough to which category to refer an appar- ently primitive state of affairs in an organ. For example, while everyone admits nowadays that the Amphibia are close to the fishes, no one would prob- ably suggest that the total absence of lungs in certain Salamanders is due to the final disappearance of the air bladder of the fish-like ancestor, whose disappearance is commencing to be indicated by the loss of a connection with the oesophagus in many fishes. It is a question of simplification and de- oreneration within the tribe of newts themselves. t> And when Professor Albrecht* alleges the absence * " Uber die Cetoide Natur der Promammalia," Anat. Anzeig.. i., p. 338. CLASSIFICA TION i 6 1 of a sacrum in the vertebral column as a primitive character it seems impossible to accept his view, and to do otherwise than regard this simplification of the vertebral column as due to the dwindling hind legs, and to the consequent absence of any need for strong support from the vertebral column. Again, whales have not only not an external ear (in the adult con- dition), but also no ear muscles, which are so highly developed in terrestrial mammals with mobile ears. In criticisino- Professor Albrecht's statements and <_> suggestions Professor Max Weber * points out that some time since Professor Howes showed in the fcetal porpoise rudiments of external ears and of a muscle, which can hardly be regarded as a beginning of these structures, so essential to an ear which plays an important part in the life of terrestrial mammals. For they are only found in the embryo ; if com- mencing structures they should be more apparent in the adult. Vestiges, remains of former structures, indicate their earlier existence by appearing for a brief time during development, and then fading away as maturity is reached. Some other features in the organisation of the Cetacea may, perhaps, be interpreted as really primitive. Amoncr the whalebone whales the two halves of o the lower jaw are only united by what is termed syndesmosis, a weaker union by ligaments than the strong, bony union (" ankylosis "), which is prevalent in mammals generally. It may be urged, however, * " Uber die Cetoide Natur der Promammalia," Ibid., ii. 102 A BOOK OF WHALES that this has really to do with the mode in which the Rorquals and Right whales feed. The capacity for taking in enormous gulps of water containing the minute animals upon which the majority of these whales feed would be advantaged by a distensibility of the mouth, and a consequent increase in size of the mouth cavity. Of more importance in connection with the anatomy of the lower jaw is the discovery by Professor Albrecht of a separate supra-angular bone. It is a distinguishing feature of the mammals, as contrasted with the reptiles lying beneath them in the series, that the lower jaw is almost entirely formed of a dentary bone alone (a small chin bone sometimes occurring also). Now in reptiles a large number of separate elements enter into its formation, so that the occasional occurrence in Balcenoptera sibbaldii of the supra-angular is so far an archaic feature. So too, possibly, is the marked separation of the sternum into two hemisterna. This is particu- larly apparent in the Cachalot and in the Ziphioids. Now the sternum is developed from the ends of the ribs on both sides, and in the embryo it is always double ; later the fusion of the two halves takes place, and the apparently median- sternum arises. In lower vertebrates the double condition often survives. That there is often a seventh cervical rib in whales is a remnant of a former state of affairs ; for in reptiles there are a series of ribs depending from the neck vertebrae. But after all such an additional rib has been often met with in other mammals. Professor Albrecht points out that the Cetacea resemble the CLASS1FICA TION 1 03 fishes in that the occipital bone joins the frontal. It is no doubt, as has already been pointed out, a very curious fact in their anatomy, and one not easily susceptible of an explanation. But to liken them to fishes for this reason seems to prove too much ; what we want on the " promammalian " theory is rather a likeness with lowly-organised reptiles. It cannot, of course, be seriously maintained, as Professor Albrecht would have us believe, that the dorsal fin is an in- heritance from a fish. Dr. Murie's comparison of it to the hump of the camel is far better. Professor Weber has justly dwelt upon the ex- cessively complicated brain, and upon the mode of the attachment of the fcetus to its mother, in support of the more orthodox view that the whales are not primitive Mammalia at all. If we are to place them in this position we must displace the monotrematous mammals (Ornithorhynchus and Echidna), whose organisation in so many points places them un- questionably at the base of the existing mammals. The general conclusion which best suits the facts at our disposal seems to be to look upon the Cetacea as an offshoot from an early group of the higher Mammalia. This is unsatisfactory in its vagueness, no doubt ; but it is difficult to see what more can be said which is not entirely speculative and devoid of foundation in ascertained fact. Having then attempted, and, it must be candidly confessed, failed, to place the whales accurately in the system, it remains to arrange them with reference to each other. It is easier to do this than to solve the io4 A BOOK OF WHALES first problem. There is, however, an initial difficulty in the great superficial likeness which the various members of the whale tribe bear to each other. It needs no arguments to prove that the Mammalia are essentially a land race other than those which have already been advanced. To inhabit the water is a mode of life entirely foreign to their organisation. It is perhaps this which, in part at least, accounts for the uniformity of structure which the large group of whales exhibits. So little divergence from the suit- able structure would be just the fatal straw. We find as a support of this way of looking at the matter similar uniformities in groups which inhabit an un- usual medium. The group of birds, for example, which contains an enormously large number of different species, and is yet characterised by so great a uniformity of organisation that the task of classify- ing them has proved insuperable, is an example of a race which has probably been modified to the aerial life from a life among the branches of trees. Here again a certain organisation is needful to live that life, and wide departures from the most fitting type of structure are not to be seen. A slight structural divergence might easily prove fatal to the perfect fulfilment of their functions as flying animals. Everyone is agreed that the orders of birds are separated from each other by characters of far less importance than those which separate many, if not all, of the orders of the purely terrestrial mammalia. The Cetacea, it is true, form but one group equivalent to the Ungulata, the Rodentia, etc. CLASSIFICATION 105 But it would seem that they are more alike, one genus with another, in external build and internal con- formation, than are either of two groups cited. There are, for example, larger differences in the organs of digestion among the Rodents and Ungulates than are met with in the whales ; the variability of external form it is hardly necessary to dwell upon. The teeth differ much more in form from one Rodent genus to another, or from one Ungulate genus to another, than in the whales, generally speaking. Fishes, on the other hand, which are born and bred to the aquatic life, show just as many (if not more) divergences of structure as do the mammals. The expression "fish -like" is, it is true, often used to describe a certain shape ; but what could be more utterly different in shape than a skate and an eel, or a sunfish and a sole? Here we have the precise converse of the case afforded by whales. The whole organisation being fitted to the marine or fresh-water life,, there is ample room for much variation without affecting the necessary essentials. Bearing in mind then the profound influence which the aquatic life seems to have had in moulding the external as well as the internal form of whales, it is not surprising that several naturalists have arrived at the conclusion that those structural differences which do exist argue the justice of dividing the group into two great orders, the toothed and the whalebone whales, which have arisen from separate ancestors, and have only come to resemble each other in various details owing- to " convergence," 106 A BOOK OF' WHALES i.e., the likeness is superficial and due to similar conditions, not similar descent. This convergence is not an uncommon fact in nature. Such likenesses as there are between the seals and the whales and between the Manatees and the whales are examples. "Flying' Rodents and "Flying' Marsupials exhibit another instance of the same phenomenon. In technical zoological parlance then, by those who believe the whales to be two groups originally distinct from each other which have come to lie side by side, they would be spoken of as " diphyletic." That there do not appear to be any annectant forms between the toothed and the whalebone whales is so far in favour of this view. But much more than that is necessary to lend even a colour of probability to the suggestion. It is perfectly true that the two great divisions of the M^stacoceti and the Odontoceti are, as wUl be seen from the definitions which follow, separated from each other by exceedingly trenchant characters ; so, for the matter of that, are the Archaeoceti from both. But what appears fatal to us to the idea of a double origin is the exact correspondence in certain structures, which, so to speak, need not necessarily have been the same. Among these the peculiar form of the scapula stands pre-eminent. It is only in whales, and it is in all whales, that this shape of scapula is met with. CHAPTER V. THE HUNTING OF WHALES THE economic products of whales are (not in order of importance) : (i) The flesh, (2) the bones, (3) the whalebone, and (4) the oil derived from the blubber.* It is for these substances that they are hunted. The first two need not detain us long. The flesh of the Caaing whale, as noticed on page 28, is utilised by the inhabitants of the Orkneys as food, and that of various other whales is eaten, but it is not an article of at all general consumption. The bones as well as the flesh can be and are utilised, in the case of stranded whales, for manure ; and the ribs have been at various times and by different peoples used to build huts with. Nearchus relates how the natives of the Mediterranean built houses of these bones, and structures of the same kind are illustrated by Olaus Magnus. The oil of whales is derived from the blubber, which, as already said, forms a thick coating imme- diately underlying the skin. Besides, there is in * Ambergris, a product of the Sperm whale only, is dealt with below on page 197. Something has already been said of whalebone. (Supra, p. So.) 107 io8 A SO OK OF WHALES many whales, especially in the Sperm whale, a certain amount of clear oil contained in the head, which is solid when cold, and is known as spermaceti. But you must first catch your whale, and then extract the oil. The use of whale oil seems to be very ancient. M. Pouchet* tells of a convent mentioned in the life of St. Philibert which had run short of oil. In answer to the prayers of the inmates a large whale was found stranded the next day. This was in the year 684. M. Pouchet thinks that whales were more frequently stranded in old times than now, for the reason that — not being hunted — they were necessarily more numerous. It seems to be hardly a matter for doubt that whales were first of all utilised only when stranded on the shore. And very numerous are the records of whales cast up upon our coasts and those of other European countries. A number of these events are collected together by van Beneden, in his Cttac^es des Mers d' Europe, and more recently Paronat has described the whales of the Italian shores. There are numerous other scattered, and more or less elaborate, enumerations of the stranding of different species of whales. John Evelyn, in his Diary, re- cords a large whale which came ashore near to his house. It seems probably, from the size and other suggestions, to have been a Rorqual. Here is his description : — "A large whale was taken betwixt my land butting * Comptes Rendus Soc. Bio 1., 1890, p. 686. t Atti. Soc. ItaL, xxxvi., p. 297. THE HUNTING OF WHALES 109 on the Thames and Grenewich, which drew an infinite concourse to see it, by water, horse, coach, and on foot, from London and all parts. It appeared first below Greenewich at low water, for at high water it would have destroyed all the boates, but lying now in shallow water incompassed with boates, after a long conflict it was kill'd with a harping yron, struck in the head, out of which spouted blood and water by two tunnells, and after an horrid grone it ran quite on shore and died. Its length was 58 foot, heighth 16 ; black skinn'd like coach leather, very small eyes, greate taile, onely two small finns, a picked snout, and a mouth so wide that divers men might have stood upright in it ; no teeth, but sucked slime onely as thro' a grate of that bone which we call whalebone, the throate yet so narrow as would not have admitted the least of fishes. The extreames of the cetaceous bones hang downewards from the upper jaw, and was hairy towards the ends and bottom within side ; all of it prodigious, but in nothing more wonderfull than that an animal of so great a bulk should be nourished only by slime thro' those grates." In Holinshed's Chronicle we read that in 1531 "the five and twentieth of Maie, between London and Gravesende were taken two great fishes called whorlepooles, male and female." These were pre- sumably either Balcenoptera, or perhaps more likely Sperm whales. The expression " whorlepoole" for large whales was very common at that period. Earlier still, and also in the Thames, we hear no A BOOK Of WHALES from Fabyan's Chronicle that in the year 1472 "were taken at Eryth within XII miles of London iiii wonderful fysshes whereof one was called Mors Maryne, the second a Sworde fysshe and the other ii were Whales, which after some exposytors were pronostycacions of warre & trouble." The Mors Maryne of this description, one would think, could hardly be a Walrus ; it was very possibly an Orca, of which three individuals came up the Thames so lately as 1890. The notion of the appearance of these huge whales being a portent of dire trouble is common. In Stowe's London is recorded the stranding in the Thames, at Blackwall, of a " Parma- Ceti whale," the Sperm whale of course. A curious variant in the spelling of this word occurs in Baker's Chronicle, where the stranding of a O Sperm whale is recorded, and the writer goes on to remark, " The Oyl being boy led out of the head was Parmacitta." For the following account of a whale hunt in olden times, and also up the Thames, I am indebted to the Rev. William Hunt. The story comes from the Chronica Major a of Matthew Paris ; the date is 1240 :— " Balaenae circiter undecim praeter alias beluas marinas in litore maris Angliae contermino mortuae, et quasi in aliquo certamine laesae . . . sunt projectae . . . Unde nautae et seniores maris con- finia habitantes . . . asserebant bellum fuisse in- auditum inter pisces beluas et monstra marina, quae sese adinvicem mordentia et collidentia alterno impetu THE HUNTING OF WHALES in interemerunt, unde mortua ex illis ad litora sunt projecta. De quorum piscium (numero) unus, monstrosae immanitatis belua, in Tamensem veniens, vix inter pilas pontis illaesus pertransierit. Ad mane- rium autem regio quod Mortelac (Mortlake) dicitur, insequentibus multis navigatoribus cum funibus et balistis et arcubus, perveniens, ibidem jaculorum ictibus vix est peremptus." No season passes without the record of a few whales stranded upon the shores of Great Britain, and it is to this fortunate circumstance that our knowledge of whales is so largely due. The discovery of the economic value of many parts of these huge monsters led naturally to their pursuit, either from the shore or in the open sea. As to the actual date of the first active hunting of whales there is dispute, the real date of the origin of this pursuit being difficult to ascertain. Some say that the Basques were the earliest race to engage in the pursuit of whales as a commercial enterprise ; others hold that the Norwegians were the pioneers in this branch of industry. Probably whales were first of all hunted from the shore, as, indeed, they are now in the case of the Californian grey whale off the Pacific shores of North America. As to the Norwegians, the following passage may be quoted from J. Ross Browne :— " 'As early as 887,' according to Anderson (in his Historical and Chronological Deduction of the Origin * Quoted by SCAMMON (Marine Rlammals, p. 186). ii2 A BOOK OF- WHALES t of Commerce], or, as Hakluyt thinks, about 890, ' our excellent King Alfred ' received from one Ochther, a Norwegian, an account of his discoveries northward O * on the coast of Norway; a coast which appears to have been before very little, if at all, known to the Ano-lo-Saxons. There is one very remarkable tiling o * in this account ; for he tells King Alfred ' that he sailed along the Norway coast, so far north as commonly the whale hunters used to travel,' which shows the great antiquity of whale fishing, though undoubtedly then and long after the use of what is usually called whalebone was not known ; so that they fished for whales merely on account of their fat or oil." This story seems to show not merely a great antiquity for the pursuit of whales, but that the fishery was carried on from the shore. No doubt as soon as the value of stranded whales was ascertained they would be hunted in this fashion, and then as the shore-coming whales got scarcer they would be pursued by the whalers further and further into the ocean.* Anyhow, whatever may be the actual date of the first practising of whaling as an industry, it is clear that it was known in this country as early as before the year 1000, for there is an * The shore fishery, however, has been up to recent times and is still largely pursued in various quarters of the globe. In New Zealand the Hon. W. Pember Reeves (The Long White Cloud, 1898) informs us this industry commenced in the last decade of the eighteenth century. In the "forties" it became important, and in 1843 there were more than thirty shore stations, employing 500 men. The value of oil and whale- bone of that year was ,£50,000. HUNTING OF WHALES 113 interesting dialogue preserved, written by one Aelfric, Abbot of Ensham, in which the subject of whaling is dealt with.* This is in the form of a conversation between the master and his pupils, written in order to familiarise the pupils with Latin conversation. The master begins by inquiring what is to be caught in the sea. The pupil then enumerates the following curious assortment of "marketable marine fishes": " Aleces et isicios, delphinos et sturias, astreas et cancros, musculos et torniculos, neptigallos, platerias et platessas et polypodes et multa alia." Then the master : " Vis capere aliquem cetum ? " " Nic." The reason is then demanded. The youth is supposed to reply : " Quia periculosum est capere cetum. Tutius est mihi ire ad amnem cum nave mea quam ire cum multibus navibus in venationem balaenae." " Et tamen," the master goes on to say, "multi capiunt cetos et evadunt pericula." It is plain, therefore, that whaling was practised, presumably in this country, at that date. It should be explained that the word cetus alone means whale ; balana means a sea monster generally. This is rather remarkable con- sidering the derivation of Cetus from the Homeric word, which seems to mean a sea monster generally. Batena usually definitely means whale. But the words " hwael " and " hranes " seem to put the matter beyond a doubt. The American whale fishery began at any rate as early as the year 1614. At first the animals were pursued from the shore ; and the island of Nantucket was the headquarters of the industry. * For this I am also indebted to the Rev. W. Hunt. n4 A BOOK OF WHALES The whales were watched for from a "tall spar," and when the animal was seen to spout the boats immediately set out in pursuit. The whale when captured was towed in shore, and the flensing carried out on the beach. Shore-whaling, however, was after no great a period abandoned, for the reason that the whales had begun to get scarce. Ships were then fitted out for long voyages, and in 1 790 a ship fitted out at New Bedford doubled Cape Horn, and really inaugurated the South Pacific whale fishery. The names of the ships are characteristic of the date. Captain Scammon tells us that one of the first vessels to cross the Atlantic in search of whales (in the year 1770) was named the No Duty on Tea. The whale trade went on increasing for many years in leaps and bounds; in 1775 there were as many as 300 vessels engaged in the industry, and by 1846 the total number of ships had increased to about 730, representing an aggregate tonnage of 233,189 tons. At this period the "investments connected with the business are said to have been at least $70,000,000, and 70,000 persons derived their chief support from the whaling- interests." That year, according to the statistics given by Captain Scammon, was apparently the culmination of the whale trade in America, for we observe a gradual diminution in the number of vessels until the year in which the statistics end, viz., 1872 ; in this year the number of ships was altogether only 218, representing a tonnage of 52,701. That there should be this decrease is not surprising, when we learn from the same table of statistics that during the HUNTING OF WHALES 115 years 1835-1872 about 292,714 whales must have been either captured or destroyed ! To write an adequate account of the whaling industry would need a volume to itself. We can only give a few facts. There is no doubt that here as in other countries the pursuit of whales has fallen off enormously in the last fifty years. This is to be partly explained by the increasing rarity of the more valuable kinds, and partly to the replacement of the substances for which whales are hunted by cheaper substitutes. Captain Yule, harbour-master of the port of Dundee, has been good enough to give me some valuable information with regard to the state O of the whaling industry at that town for incorporation into the present volume. Writing to me in June, 1898, Mr. Yule stated that in that year the whaling vessels equipped at Dundee had met with but scant success ; this fact, " coupled with the great fall in the price of oil, and the enormous expense of the voyage, has reduced the industry to such a point that only five vessels have left this season." The followine o table (also kindly supplied to me by Captain Yule) shows the number of ships and the number of whales caught in a series of years commencing with 1859. The decrease of both sets of figures is most note- worthy. Moreover, the heaviest decrease is in the number of whales. Whereas in 1861 ei^ht vessels O captured between them 121 whales, the same number of ships in 1897 only secured nine whales. This tells its own story. For some further details of whale fisheries the reader is referred to the sections dealing n6 A BOOK OF WHALES with the Greenland whale and the southern whalebone whale.* DUNDEE SHIPS AT DAVIS STRAITS AND GREENLAND, WHALING. Year. No. of ships. Whales caught. Year. No. of ships. Whales caught. l859 . . 6 71 l879 . 15 72 1860 7 27 1880 14 92 1861 8 121 1881 15 53 1862 8 82 1882 '5 79 1863 . 8 19 1883 13 17 1864 8 31 1884 15 79 1865 7 50 1885 16 27 1866 . 1 1 3° 1886 15 17 1867 12 2 1887 10 9 1868 . 14 1 08 1888 9 6 1869 . I I 9 1889 10 H 1870 10 61 1 890 10 18 1871 10 '33 1891 9 15 1872 1 1 105 1892 10 10 1873 • 12 158 1893 4 29* 1874 • I I 190 1894 8 19 1875 . . 12 79 1895 7 H 1876 12 65 1896 8 9 1877 • 13 Si 1897 8 9t 1878 IS 7 * Four ships at Antarctic and one at Nfld. only, and four at Davis Straits in 1893. t 1897. One ship at Nfld. only, and eight at Davis Straits and Greenland. ' See for details of whale fishery in recent years a series of papers by Mr. Southwell in The Zoologist. CHAPTER VI. THE RIGHT WHALES THE whalebone whales (Mystacoceti) are separ- ated by all naturalists from the toothed whales as a distinct division, which is characterised by the possession of whalebone. This is not, however, the only feature which distinguishes the whalebone whales from the Odontoceti or toothed whales. The skull is nearly symmetrical ; in fact, it is not perceptibly asymmetrical. The nasal bones are equal or sub-equal in size, and in their characters more like those of ordinary mammals. They are placed side by side, have truncated ends, and roof over the nasal passage to the extent of their length. The frontal bones are not overlapped by the maxillae as they are in toothed whales. There is a distinct lacrymal bone. The two rami of the mandible meet only at the very end and for a very short space ; they are, moreover, as a rule connected at their junction by ligament only. They are much bowed outwards, and enclose a spoon-shaped area. The skull as a whole is more or less arched, most so in the Rio-ht o whales. This structural peculiarity is obviously connected with the presence of whalebone and is less 117 n8 A BOOK OF WHALES developed in the Rorquals, where the whalebone is shortest. The ribs are never attached to the vertebrae by more than one head, which is the tubercular head, i.e., that articulating with the transverse process of the vertebrae. The sternum is always in one piece, and only a single pair of ribs articulate with it. It FIG. 19. Skull of Balccna australis, dorsal view. (From van Beneden and Gervais.) SO, Supra occipital. P, Parietal. F, Frontal. N, Nasal. (N.B., the left nasal is represented as absent.) MX, Maxilla. PMX, Premaxilla. is always very small in proportion to the size of the body and does not represent a fused sternum of several segments, but the manubrium only. It is usual, perhaps, to divide the Mystacoceti into two families : the Balaenidae and the Balsenopteridae, This arrangement is that followed by Gray in his Catalogue. It is the arrangement found in many text- RIGHT lVIfAL£S ny books of zoology. In his "Supplement," however, Gray laid still greater emphasis upon the structural divergences to be seen amono- the whalebone whales, o o and arranged them thus: Sub-order I., Balaenoidea, con- O taining but a single family Balsenidae ; and Sub-order II., Balaenopteroidea, containing the families Agaphe- lidae, Megapteridae, Physalidae, and Baleenopteridae. The other extreme is accepted by most writers, who FIG. 20. Skull of Balanoptera sibbaldii, dorsal view. (From van Beneden and Gervais.) SO, Supra occipital. P, Parietal. F, Frontal. N, Nasal. allow but a single family Balaenidae. I am disposed to allow the two families Balsenidae and Balsenopteridae ; but there is something to be said for but a single family, chiefly on account of the characters of Rhachianectes and Neobalcena. It is rather curious that Dr. Gray with his liberality in the manufacture of families did not dignify the last named by creating a special family for it. Especially as he divided the Rorquals into two families. 126 A BOOK OF WHALES Both Rhachianectes and Neobalana to some extent interfere with the naturalness of the families Balsenidae and Balsenopteridae ; and so does that less-known genus Agaphehts (if really distinct) with which Cope at first united Rhachianectes. Rhachianectes has the general outline of a Rorqual ; but there is no dorsal fin, and the throat plaits of Baltznoptera are reduced to two. The baleen, however, is short as in the Rorquals. The skeletal characters are also to some extent intermediate. The cervical vertebrae are free, as in Rorquals ; the sternum is as in that group ; and so on the whole is the form of the skull. But when the skull is seen from the side, the pre-maxillaries are as obvious as in the Greenland whale, and the fore part of the skull is narrow as in that cetacean. The scapula, moreover, is not so elongated as in the Rorquals, but has more the shape of that in the genus Balcena. Neobal&na is placed by Gray among the Balsenidae ; but it has several Balaenopteroid characters. It is, however, a true Balana in the length of the baleen and in the consequent arching of the skull. But the frontal bones, or rather the processes of those bones, which cover over the orbit are broad, as in Balcenoptera, and not so narrow as in the Right whales. The skull, as a whole, is not so dispro- portionate to the body as in the genus Bal&na ; it is more like a Rorqual in this particular. Finally, the scapula is Rorqual-like in its antero-posterior elongation ; it is not nearly so high as in the Right whale. On the other hand, the sternum marks the affinities of Neobaldena with Balesna. RIGHT WHALES 121 I should be disposed to describe Neobalcena as a Balcena with affinities to Balcenoptera, and Rhachia- nectes as a Balcenoptera with affinities to Balcena. Concerning Agaphelus we have less information. Of the two genera just mentioned there are skeletons in the British Museum, which I have been able to study. Agaphelus* has no dorsal fin, and is said to be without throat plaits ; but this has been stated of Rhachianectes, which is figured by Scammon as having two of those plaits. On the other hand, the baleen is like that of Balcenoptera in being short. The scapula is like that of the same genus. Fur- ther information is required before this genus can be placed with an approximation to accuracy. FAMILY, BAL&NIDAE Skull very much arched, and narrow anteriorly ; lower jaw without marked coronoid process. Cervical vertebrae fused. Baleen very long. Pectoral limbs short. No grooves on throat. The last character may prove to be not applicable to Neobalcena, which is, as already explained, some- what intermediate between the Right whales and the Rorquals. This family of whales contains but two genera, and these include between them probably not more than three species, of which two are refer- able to Balcena. * According to Van Beneden and Gervais (OsUographie des Cetacees, p. 236) Agaphelus gibbosus, the "Scrag whale," is a young form probably of Balcena. anstralis. 122 A BOOK OF WHALES GENUS, BALsENA Size large, 50-60 feet. No dorsal fin. Head more than one-fourth the length of the body. Orbital pro- cess of frontal not wider than downward process of maxilla. Scapula rather high; 12-15 pairs of ribs, hind limb consisting of a pelvic bone, femur, and tibia. The " Right whales," as it is usual to term the Greenland whale and the southern whalebone whale, are so termed on account of the fact that they are the " right " kind of whale for the whaler to attack ; their whalebone is finer and longer than that of others, and the oil is more abundant and of a superior quality. These whales are characterised, in addition to the characters given in the definition which are not found in the allied genus Neobal&na, by the enormous head and the peculiar form of the mouth, which is shown in the accompanying illustra- tion. (Fig. 21.) The skull is mainly distinguishable from that of Neobalcena by the characters of the frontal and maxilla given in the diagnosis ; this character is very plain on an examination. It is an interesting fact to note from Professor Huxley's figure of a foetal southern Right whale, given in his Anatomy of Vertebrates, that in the foetus the frontal in its proportions more approaches that of Neobalccna and the Rorquals. This is so far confirmatory evidence of the view that this genus is the most modified of whalebone whales. On the other hand, it must be remembered that the greater perfection of the hind " > 1 I o O RIGHT WHALES 123 limb points to a less modified condition than that which is exhibited by Bal&noptera, where the limb is still further reduced. And furthermore, the ribs point to a more primitive stage in Bal&na. In the Rorquals and in Neobalccna very few have capitular processes. In a specimen of Balccna biscayensis at the British Museum, of the fourteen ribs present the first two had no capitulum ; but the ten following on each side were provided with capitular processes. There would seem to be some little vagueness about the number of ribs in this genus. Vagueness is, however, readily produced by deficient specimens ; and this fact may easily account for some of the discrepancies. But there would not seern to be any method by which a less number of ribs should be converted into a greater. The Greenland whale is characterised by Mr. Lydekker as possessing but twelve ribs, and thus distinguished from its southern cono-ener, which has fifteen. The skeleton of Balcena o mysticelus at Brussels is described by Sir W. Flower as having fourteen pairs of ribs, though the "usual" number is stated at thirteen. The sternum of Bal&na is not cross-shaped as in Rorquals ; it is oval, decreasing in diameter behind, or somewhat heart-shaped in contour. The scapula is high, thus contrasting with the more elongated scapula of the Rorquals. It is, or perhaps rather has been, a matter of dispute as to how many species of whale are em- braced in the general expression " Right whale." It i24 A BOOK OF WHALES is the prevailing opinion at present that there are but two properly established forms, i.e., the Green- land whale and the southern Right whale, Balczna australis. But it may be that there are others. Scoresby writes of " tribes " of whales inhabiting different regions which are to be distinguished by different proportions of head and trunk. " Those inhabiting southern latitudes," he observes, " have commonly long heads and bodies, compared with their circumference, moderately thick blubber, and long whalebone ; those of the mean fishing latitude, that is, 78-79, have more commonly short, broad heads, compared with the size of the body. In some individuals the head is at least one-third of the whole length of the body, but in others scarcely two- sevenths." Inasmuch as whalebone whales, undoubtedly be- longing to this genus Balana, occur in all the oceans from north to south, from east to west, it is at least possible that there are different races. But on the other hand, the facts which have been gathered in support of such a contention are not convincing. Cer- tainly it does not appear justifiable to erect, as has been done, a large number of distinct genera for the inclusion of these Right whales. Thus the late Dr. Gray allowed in his Catalogue — besides Baltxna — Eubal&na, Hunterius, Caperea, and Macleayius. Neobalcena, on the other hand, which will be dealt with presently, is clearly entitled to generic rank. As to Macleayius, it appears to have been founded " on a mistaken impression gathered from an im- RIGHT WHALES 125 perfect photographic representation." At best it depends entirely and only upon the cervical vertebrae, of which the altas was at first thought by Gray to be distinct. This would be if it were true a difference ; but though that character is dropped by Dr. Gray in his "Supplementary Catalogue" from further in- formation received, the genus is valiantly retained ! Hunter ins temminckii was based upon a young and incomplete skeleton in the Leyden Museum, described also by Schlegel and Flower. Its chief character is that "the first rib is very broad with two heads attached to the transverse processes of the first and second dorsal vertebrae." As a matter of fact the statement itself is inaccurate. For Sir W. Flower pointed out that the attachment was in all probability to the last cervical and first dorsal, the apparent position being due to a mistake on the part of the articulator of the skeleton. This character may surely be dismissed as an abnormality, for in the figure which is given the rib is clearly two ankylosed ribs ; it is bifid not only at the head, but at the other extreme. And, moreover, the same state of affairs was found by Sir W. Flower in an example of the southern Right whale B. austrahs. Furthermore, in the Finner, Bal&noptera rostrata, a similar "double" rib has been recorded, and in the British Museum the skeleton of Rhachianectes shows an identical state of affairs. Van Beneden asserts the same as an occasional character of the Porpoise and Globicephalus.* The only other char- * " La premiere cote des Ctftace'es," Bull. Ac. Roy. Belg., xxvi., 1868, p. 7- 126 A BOOK OR WHALES acter of importance mentioned in the diagnosis of the genus is the existence of fifteen pairs of ribs, a character which exactly fits in with the assumption that this whale is nothing but a specimen of Balcena austral is. Capered, the New Zealand whale, has even less claims — if possible — to be considered a valid genus. It is practically based upon a slight difference in the form of the tympanic bone. The slight development of the acromion is apparently a question of age and deficient ossification. Finally, there is Eubalcena to be considered. The main characters of this are that it has fifteen pairs of ribs, of which the first is not bifid. It seems to be merely a "variation on the theme" of Balccna australis. As to species of this genus Bal&na, there can be no question of the existence of two, the Greenland whale B. mysticetus, and the southern Right whale B. australis. The former is extremely limited in range, being entirely confined to the polar seas ; the latter is world-wide, and probably includes all the whales already spoken of under the various generic names already criticised. Baltzna mysticetus. The species may be thus char- acterised : — Length, 50-65 rarely 70 feet ; head \ of the length of the body; whalebone, 10-11 rarely 13 feet in length ; colour, black, under part of jaw white ; 13 pairs of ribs; about 54 vertebrae. This, the Greenland whale, Right whale or whalebone whale, is a purely polar species, never descending as far as RIGHT WHALES 127 our coasts ; the reputed occurrences of Right whale in British seas seem to concern Balana australis. This great creature, bulky though it undoubtedly is, has been very much over-rated as to its size. Scoresby, whose experience was large, says, in his Account of the Arctic Regions, that such dimensions as So or 100 feet are quite absurd; of 322 indi- viduals, in the capture of which Scoresby was himself concerned, not a single one exceeded 60 feet in o lenath. The largest ever measured by himself was o o * only 58 feet. An unusual specimen caught off Spitzbergen at the beginning of the century was barely 70 feet in length, though its whalebone was as long as 15 feet. Even the older observers, who had a tendency to exaggerate the size of these sea monsters, were not always unreliable upon this point. Edge, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, contented himself with describing the Green- land whale as "a sea beaste of huge bigness, about 65 foot long." The head of this whale is about a third of its total length. There is a slight hairy covering in the form of a few scattered, short, white hairs at the extremity of both jaws. Though the whale is usually black, Scoresby relates that he has seen specimens that were piebald all over — an exaggeration of the occasional white tracts that are normal for the species. This whale has no voice, though they make a loud noise in spouting. It swims slowly, usually at the rate of four miles an hour ; but when diving I2g A BOOK OF WHALES they reach a velocity of seven to nine miles an hour. This velocity is so great that whales have been found to dive to the bottom of water a mile in depth and to break the lower jaw by the violence of the impact. The time which whales can remain under water has been also exaggerated. It has been asserted that they can endure submersion for "many hours " ; as a general rule five or ten minutes is the period, varied by two minutes' breathing space. But when feeding, fifteen or twenty minutes is not unusual. Scoresby mentions a harpooned whale as having dived for a period of forty minutes, and Scammon assigns one hour and twenty minutes as the limit of endurance. The Greenland whale produces a single foal or "sucker" at a birth ; the young creature, when born, is 10 to 14 feet lono-. The mother does not desert i o it until the expiration of a year or so, and the amount of maternal affection exhibited has been often com- mented upon. Scoresby, who was compelled to mingle commercial enterprise with due regard to the sentimentality of the twenties, remarks that "there is something extremely painful in the destruction of a whale when thus evincing a degree of affectionate regard for its offspring that wrould do honour to the superior intelligence of human beings ; yet the object of the adventure, the value of the prize, the joy of the capture, cannot be sacrificed to feelings of compassion " ! This whale is not really gregarious ; when a number are seen together it is an accident due to RIGHT WHALES 129 their having congregated at the same feeding-spot. There are various thrilling stories of adventures with harpooned whales ; but it seems that the dangers are not due to any ferocity on the part of the animal itself, which is one of the most timid of beasts, so much so, indeed, that "a bird alighting upon its back sometimes sets it off in great agitation and terror." It is in this respect markedly unlike the fierce and malicious Californian whale. (See p. 170.) The accidents that have happened to the whalers are simply due to the struggles of the great beast when harpooned ; they are not purposely directed at its enemies at all. But it is said that a Greenland whale cannot throw up into the air, in the way that Scoresby depicts in an oft-copied picture, a boat and its crew. Since a whale of 60 feet in length would weigh one hundred tons, it is not at all surprising that the lashing of its tail and its terrified rushes may prove extremely dangerous. It has been mentioned that there are slight varia- tions in the Greenland whale, chiefly concerning the proportions of the head and trunk. Scammon distinguishes the " Bowhead " or Great Polar whale from the Risdit whale of the north- o western coast, Balcena sieboldii of Gray. But this latter whale is probably B. australis, which will be dealt with on another page. This whale has the longest whalebone of all the whalebone whales. In a whale of 47 feet long the " bone " was as much as 10 feet 6 inches long. The length may even reach 12 feet, and the colour is black, not piebald or white, K i3o A BOOK OF WHALES which is met with in other whales. There may be three hundred and fifty or more of the laminae of whalebone on each side of the mouth. Scammon relates that three hundred and seventy layers of whalebone is the largest number that he ever counted. The typical " Bowhead," which Scammon does not differentiate from the Baltzna mysticetus^ occurs chiefly in the vicinity of Behring Strait. In the sea of Okhotsk there is to be found, in addition to the typical Greenland whale, a smaller variety, called in the vernacular of the American whalers " Poggy." This creature yields but a small quantity of oil as compared with its larger relatives. They yield per whale from seventy-five to two hundred barrels ; the " Poggy " only furnishes from twenty to twenty-five barrels. " Many whalemen," proceeds Captain Scammon, "are of the opinion that this is a different species. There is little doubt, however, of this being a young whale of the same species, as its blubber is close and fine, producing but little oil in proportion to size of body, as is the case with all calves or young whales of every description." Nevertheless, Scammon is of opinion that this sea does contain a distinct variety of the common Greenland whale which he terms and figures as Roy's " Bunchback." Its most characteristic feature is a small hump or bunch a little in front of the tail, a structure which resembles the series of low humps found on the back of the Sperm whale, and is no doubt the vanishing equi- valent of the strongly-marked dorsal fin of other RIGHT WHALES 131 whales. It is said that these whales yield a larger amount of bone in proportion to oil, and that the blow holes are situated higher up. The Right whale — and the following statements apply, of course, to the southern as well as to the polar Right whale — feeds, as is well known, upon minute pelagic creatures. The minuteness of the food led the ancients to the belief that they lived upon water only. Pteropods and Crustacea form the bulk of its food, which it has not, therefore, to laboriously collect. The Arctic seas are often dyed for acres with these small floating animals, and thus (as Dryden accurately observes in the Annus Mirabilis) the whales need "give no chase, but swallow in the fry, which through their gaping jaws mistake the way." But when engaged in feeding the whale hardly lies "behind some promontory," as another poet suggests, but, as Scammon better puts it, " moves through its native element, either below or near the surface, with considerable velocity, its jaws being- open, whereby a body of water enters its capacious mouth, and along with it the animalculse (termed by the whalemen 'Right whale feed' or 'Brit')." The whale's mouth is enormous, and its capacity is enlarged by the outward sweep of the rami of the lower jaw, which have together a spoon-like contour. The plates of whalebone act as strainers, and the method of their action has been elaborately described by the late Captain Gray.* The following * In La?id and Water for the year 1878. 1 32 A BOOK OF WHALES account, an abridgement of his, is borrowed from Sir William Flower :- " How these immensely long blades depending vertically from the palate were packed into a mouth, the height of which was scarcely more than half their length, was a mystery not solved until a few years ago. Captain David Gray, of Peterhead, at my request, first gave us a clear idea of the arrangement of the baleen in the Greenland whale, and showed that the purpose of its wonderful elas- ticity was not, primarily at least, the benefit of the corset and umbrella makers, but that it was essential for the correct performance of its functions. . . . The length and delicate structure of the baleen provides an efficient strainer or hair sieve, by which the water can be drained off. If the baleen were, as in the rorquals, short and rigid, and only of the length of the aperture between the upper and lower jaws when the mouth was shut, when the jaws were separated a space would be left beneath it through which the water and the minute particles of food would escape together. But instead of this, the long, slender, brush-like ends of the whalebone blades, when the mouth is closed, fold back, the front ones passing below the hinder ones in a channel lying between the tongue and the bone of the lower jaw. When the mouth is opened their elasticity causes them to straighten out like a bow that is unbent, so that at whatever distance the jaws are separated the strainer '• Essays on Museums, etc. Macmillarfs, 1898, p. 221. RIGHT WHALES 133 remains in perfect action, filling the whole of the interval. The mechanical perfection of the arrange- ment is completed by the great development of the lower lip, which rises stiffly above the jawbone, and prevents the long, slender, flexible ends of the baleen being carried outwards by the rush of water from the mouth, when its cavity is being diminished by the closure of the jaws and raising of the tongue." The food thus filtered off by the action of the whalebone and the raising of the tongue and shuttino- o o £3 of the jaws is left stranded upon the gigantic tongue and then swallowed down the narrow throat. It is accordingly not advantageous that this tongue should be mobile and muscular ; it is, as a matter of fact, mainly formed of " a mass of spongy fat intermixed with sinewy flesh." The second species, Baleena australis, Desmoulins,* must probably include the following rather formidable list of synonyms : — B. biscayensis, Gray; B. sieboldi, Gray; B.japonica, Gray; Hunterius temminckii, Gray; B. antipodarum, Gray; B. antarctica, Schlegel ; B. mcditerranea, Gray; B. angulata, Gray ; B. nordcaper, Gray ; B. capensis, Gray ; B. cisarctica, Cope ; B. eubal&na. Flower ; HunteriuS swedenborgi, Liljeborg; Macleayins austra- liensis, Gray; M. britannicus, Gray; B. tarcntina, Capellini ; B. alutiensis, van Beneden ; B. kuliomoch, Chamisso ; B. cullamacha, Chamisso. * Diet. Class. tfHist. Nat., ii. (1822), p. 161. 134 A BOOK OF WHALES It may be thus defined : — Head relatively smaller than in B. mysticetus (f-f of body length) ; whale- bone also shorter; ribs 15 ; 57 vertebrae.^ This list of synonyms includes the names given to whales which are probably — at most no more than — local races of but one species. But with all of them it is by no means easy to be certain of the justice of this view. Thus since Macleayius britannicus is only known by its cervical vertebrae, it is conceivable, though not in the least likely, that it is a different form. But of those whales with different names that much is known about, there seems to be but little doubt that they are all one and the same species. To believe in the existence of twenty species of Right whales in addition to the Greenland Right whale is too large a draft upon credulity to be honoured at present. At every page in describing the natural history of whales it is necessary to make statements with great care, and to allow a due amount of qualification. It may be that the large number of synonyms, which it appears to me to be necessary to include in the description of this species, are really proper varieties at least, or even distinct forms. As has before been stated, there does not appear much reason to accept the numerous genera which Gray allowed. But as to species the affair is different. Since these whales do not live, or at least are not common, in the tropics, * See GULDBERG, " Zur Kenntnis des Nordkapers," Zoolog. Jahrb., vii., p. 8. RIGHT WHALES 135 but prefer the temperate waters both north and south of the equator, it might be urged that the northern were distinct from the southern species. And this is and has been the opinion of many. On the other hand, Sir William Flower is inclined to believe in the existence of but a single Balccna besides the Greenland whale, and with this opinion I associate myself. The most marked characteristics of this whale have been given in the above diagnosis of Balccna australis. But the number of the ribs appears to be a character that is not absolutely fixed. As a rule Balccna mysticetus has but thirteen ribs, while B. a^lstralis has as many as fifteen. Sir W. Flower,^ however, described some years since an undoubtedly Arctic whale with fourteen ribs, the last being rudi- mentary and only eighteen inches in length. Still, here are fourteen ribs. With this fact must be compared the figure of Balccna japonica, here re- garded as a synonym of B. australis, which, according to a Japanese artist, f has also fourteen pair of ribs ; the accuracy of the Japanese is so well known that we must hesitate before rejecting the fact.J Neither apparently can the length of the plates of baleen be absolutely relied upon as a character diagnostic of Balcena australis. Generally the baleen is coarser and shorter than is that of Balcena mysticetus* * Proc. Zool. Sac., 1864, p. 416. t MOEBIUS, Ueber den Fang und die Verwerthung der Walfische in Japan, SB. k.preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1893, p. 1065. \ GULDBERG (loc. tit. on p. 134) also gives fourteen for the Nordcaper. 136 A SO OK OF- WHALES t It is figured, for example, by Scammon as rather more than one-fourth less in length than that of its ally. Six feet is the length assigned by Gray to the baleen of " Eubalcena australis " ; but of "Eubafana sieboldii" the baleen is stated by the same author to be " nearly as long as the Greenland, varying from seven to twelve feet long, and slender." The difference, therefore, is in the latter instance not great. A very singular feature of Balcena^ especially of the present species, is the so-called " bonnet." This is a horny, irregular mass growing on the snout. The irregular shape and pitted appearance of the bonnet gives one the impression that it is a patho- logical structure, a kind of corn, perhaps produced by the animal rubbing itself against rocks, as this species has been observed to do in order to get rid of the barnacles which are apt to infest it. It is not large, eleven inches being about the length of a large one, and this was eight inches in width. It is spoken of as a "rudimentary frontal horn" by Gray, and a comparison with an Ungulate horn, especially that of a rhinoceros, is highly interesting in view of the disputed affinities of whales. We cannot, however, press this comparison at present. As to the habits of this whale, they seem to be much those of its nearest ally. They go about singly, in pairs, or three together. Towards the end of the season Scammon tells us that they con- gregate in herds, which are technically known as ;'gams." This is previous to migration, and the RIGHT WHALES 137 whales of the southern hemisphere are also migra- tory. Balcena australis has the same strong maternal o affection that characterises Balcena mysticetus. This is illustrated by the recital of the capture of a whale in the Bay of St. Sebastian, quoted by M. Fischer* (to whom science is indebted for a oreat deal of N O collected information about this and other whales) : " When the mother whale saw her young captured, instead of flying she made unheard of attempts to free it, describing a circle round the boats without hurting them. Sometimes she pressed the cub under her great fins, and tried to drag it away ; sometimes she dived with it, disappeared, and re- appeared at some distance. But the enterprise was not easy ; the ropes were strong, and the three harpoons well embedded." Later on the cub es- caped through the mother breaking, by a stroke of her powerful tail, the ropes attached to the harpoons ; but the young one died, and the mother followed and remained near its dead body regardless of musket shots fired at her, and only went away on the following day. This whale, which was once more abundant on the coasts of Europe than it appears to be now, has been much hunted, especially by the Basques, who have left their mark upon the whaling industry by the very word harpoon. Of this industry a number of important observations on the spot, and * " Cetace'es du Sud-Ouest de la France," Actes Soc. Linn. Bordeaux 1881. 138 A BOOK OF WHALES references to the literature, have been collected by M. Fischer in the memoir just referred to, and at nearly the same time by Mr. (now Sir Clements) Markham.* It would seem that they were fished upon the shores of Flanders so long ago as the year 875, but in these remote periods it is by no means always certain that whale is meant by the descriptive expressions used. Even Balcena itself does not always apply in these early records to the whale- bone whale, and the term " crassus piscis" is clearly even more vague in its possible significances. We learn that in old times the habits and customs of the Basques resembled those of their not very distant neighbours, the Normans. They lived along the shores, and, as a rule, picked up a living there. When the fishery was not productive they occupied themselves in pillaging inland. The whales were attacked when they approached the shore to bear their young ; they were driven on to the shore and despatched there. The earliest document relative to this fishery is dated from the year 1150. It is in the shape of privileges granted by Sancho the Wise to the city of San Sebastian. A little later, in 1197, John Lackland, King of England, "gave to Vital de Biole and his heirs to take fifty Angevin pounds on the two first whales captured each year at Biarritz in exchange for the fees which King Richard his brother had given him on account of the fishery of Guernsey." The pursuit of the Biscayan fr " On the Whale Fishery of the Basque Provinces of Spain," Proc. Zool. Soc., 1 88 1, p. 969. RIGHT WHALES 139 whale was at its height at this period, and for some time afterwards. Its importance is shown by the fact that a whale is incorporated into the coats-of- arms of many cities lying upon the Bay of Biscay. " This charge," remarks Sir C. Markham, " is in the arms of Fuentarrabia. Over the portal of the first old house in the steep street of Guetaria there is a shield of arms consisting of whales amidst waves of the sea. At Motrico the town arms consist of a whale in the sea, harpooned, and with a boat with men holding the line. The same device is carved on the wall of the townhall of Lequeito. The arms of Bermeo and Castro-Udiales also contain a whale." Other traces of the former prevalence of this industry are to be seen in the remains of " vigias," or look- out towers, whence the whales were first espied and the fleet of boats sent out in pursuit. In the six- teenth century the trade was still important. We find Rondeletius (1568) remarking upon Bayonne as a centre of the trade, and the flesh, especially the tongue, was eaten, being exposed in the markets of Bayonne, Biarritz, and other towns. A curious example is given by Sir Clements Markham in proof of the importance of the industry, even so late as 1712. In the records of a marriage at Le- queito the bride and bridegroom between them pos- sessed all the necessary outfit for a whaling voyage. Ambroise Pare (quoted by Fischer) has given an elaborate account of whale fishing in the Bay of Biscay in the year 1564, a part of which we shall quote here as serving to illustrate how the Biscayan i4o A BOOK OP WHALES whale was hunted at that period: "It is taken, at certain times of winter in many places, including the coast of Bayonne, near a little village distant three leagues or about from the said town, and named Biarris. . . . Opposite that village there is a hill upon which, from a long time back, has been built a tower" (one of the vigias already referred to) "en- tirely for this pursuit, day and night, to discover the ' Balaines ' which pass, and perceiving them coming partly by the loud noise they make, and partly by the water which they throw out by a conduit which they possess in the middle of the forehead. And when they perceive, them to come they ring a bell, at the sound of which promptly all those in the village run with their apparatus which is requisite to take these animals. They have several boats and skiffs, in some of which there are men whose only duty is to fish up those who may have fallen into the water. The others are used for the combat, and in each of them are ten men, strong and capable of rowing well, and several others with barbed darts, which are marked with their mark to recognise them again, attached to cords, and which are thrown with all their force at the whales." After the whale is killed the whalers feast ("font gode chere ") and depart, each with his share, which is calculated by the harpoons already in the body, and, of course, known to their possessors. This author from whom we have just quoted remarks upon the affection of the females for their young, and the comparative ease, therefore, with which they are RIGHT WHALES 141 captured. After the beginning of the eighteenth century the industry seems to have decayed, on account of the growing rarity of the whales. In the nineteenth century but two or three records of its occurrence in the Bay are to be found. The genus NEOBAL/ENA may be thus characterised: — Size small, 20 feet about. Head not laree. No o throat grooves. A small falcate dorsal fin. Frontals broad. Seventeen pairs of ribs, very broad and flat. Vertebra C. 7 (fused) D. 18, L. 2, Cau. 16. Whale- bone long. Scapula broad, not high. This very remarkable genus of whalebone whales bears the same kind of relation to the great Bala-no, o that Kogia does to its equally gigantic ally Physeter. In both cases also the dwarf form is to some extent intermediate in its characters, thus illustrating a generalisation applicable to a good many groups — that archaic characters are not usually coupled with extremes of size. To Dr. Gray may have been justly allowed some jubilation concerning this whale. He separated it as distinct on account of its whalebone, and, as it has turned out, very rightly. As Neobalana is repre- sented by but a single species it is clearly impossible to disentangle from each other the characters which belong to Neobalcena as a genus from those which should be held to distinguish Neobalcena marginata as a species. Indeed, the two skeletons of this whale in the fine collection of Cetaceans in the British i42 A BOOK OF WHALES Museum show certain differences which may be specific, if they are not sexual. It is from an examination of those two skeletons that the following- notes have been drawn up.* Neobalana has a very short vertebral column, the total number of vertebrae being only forty-three. The complete fusion of the cervicals allies the genus to the Right whales. The most note- worthy point that I observed concerning the dorsal vertebrae was the fact that the first dorsal apparently bears no rib. As this was the case in both specimens it seems unlikely that it has dropped off. The number of the dorsal vertebrae is therefore one in excess of the number of ribs. This number was not constant in the two specimens ; the larger had eighteen, the smaller whale seventeen dorsal vertebrae. In any case Neobal&na has more dorsals than any other Cetacean. It has also fewer lumbars ; there are two in one and one in the smaller specimen. The only other Cetacean in which anything like so small a series of lumbars occurs is Inia (see p. 297), and there the number is three. The ribs of this Cetacean are remarkable for many reasons. Their number (seventeen) is in excess of that known elsewhere. In one specimen, it is true, there are but sixteen — a number which occurs in the largest whalebone whale Balcenoptera sibbaldii. As already observed, the first rib is attached to the The principal osteological features are also noted in FLOWER and LYDEKKER'S Mammals, Recent and Extinct. A more detailed account by HECTOR, Trans. New Zeal. Inst., 1875, P- 25r- RIGHT WHALES 143 second dorsal vertebra, a remarkable state of affairs upon which I have commented elsewhere. The ribs are attached only to the transverse processes of their vertebrae, and there apparently not very firmly. The second to the fifth ribs, however, have a neck and head produced beyond the tuberculum towards the centrum, which, however, they do not seem to reach. If Neobalcena is an especially diving whale capable of longer submersion than some others, the lax attachment of the ribs may conceivably be explained as furthering this capability, for it would allow of a greater expansion of the contained lungs. (See p. 55) Another feature in which the ribs are remarkable is their great breadth and flatness. This brings them close together into a thick armature for the protection of the underlying viscera. The condition of the ribs is suggestive of the Sirenia and of many Ungulates. Neobalana marginata, of Gray* (perhaps Caperea antipodarum, Gray, ib., p. 101, in part), is the only species of the genus. * Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, p. 90. CHAPTER VII. THE RORQUALS FAMILY, BALsENOPTERIDAE THIS family may be distinguished from that of the Balaenidae by the following definition : — Head less than quarter of the length of the body. Dorsal fin usually present. Throat with longitudinal plaits more or fewer in number. Bones of skull but slightly arched. Tympanic bones more elongated. Coronoid process of mandible more or less developed. Cervical vertebrse usually free. Hand narrow and tetradactylous. Baleen plates short. Caecum present.* This family of whales comprises at least three well - marked genera : the Rorquals, genus Balcen- optera ; the Humpbacks, genus Megaptera ; and finally the recently - known California Grey whale, Rhachianectes. f We shall commence with a con- sideration of the Rorquals, which will be here included within a single genus. This is probably * The above classification and definitions are chiefly founded upon Sir W. Flower's paper in Proc. Zool. Soc. for 1864, p. 384. t Whether Professor Giglioli's Ainphiptera pacifica with two dorsal fins (see p. 14) is an abnormality or not remains to be seen. (Cetacea of the " Magenta?} 144 RORQUALS 145 the prevailing opinion at present, though many naturalists — even Sir William Flower in his earlier memoirs — have divided the existing Rorquals into three or even more genera. We shall clear the ground by defining this genus, of which of course the definition will be, in the opinion of some, applicable to a sub-family. GENUS, BAL^ENOPTERA Dorsal fin present and falcate. Throat plaits numerous. Scapula low and broad, with long acromion and coracoid process. In considering whether or not it is advisable to divide the only four really definable species into different genera we may at once discard Benedenia, founded upon an immature specimen, Rudolphius, which is the same as Sibbaldius, the two names having been given to identical species. Sibbaldius and Flowerius again have both been applied to what we term here Balanoptera borealis ; so that one of them at least may be discarded, and that one must obviously be Flowerius, as it is the newer name. Balana is clearly to be left out of consideration, as it is or rather has been in the hands of older authors of wide applicability, embracing all the whalebone whales. Physalus is an older name than Pterobalcsna for the same species, and the same applies to Ogmobalana. So we may in this way weed down the generic names of the Rorquals to Balcrnoptera, Sibbaldius, and Physalus. These three 146 A BOOK OR WHALES, genera were accepted by Flower in his paper on " The Skeletons of Whales in the principal Museums of Holland and Belgium" (in Proc. Zool. Soc. already referred to). If we add to these Cuvieriiis for the fourth species, described in the present work as Balcen- optera sibbaldii, we shall have exhausted the possible generic names for the only four species known. But are they wanted? It seems to be a reason- able procedure in zoological nomenclature to invent generic names for the clue pigeon-holing of a group which embraces a large number of species. It facilitates memory, and expresses a notion of classi- fication. But when a group is so restricted as is that of the Rorquals, this procedure seems to be superfluous, especially since the utmost differences between the recognised forms are so small. All these great creatures are so much alike that their o confusion one with another is almost inextricable. When species has been so confounded and confused with species, it seems to be a deliberate sarcasm to attempt generic definitions. Besides, now that the group has emerged from the complexity in which the labours of Dr. Gray involved it, we are able to see clearly how slight are the anatomical differences which distinguish the different forms. We think, therefore, that the best plan will be to oqve some sketch of the external characters and o osteology of the Rorquals, and to mention the differences which enable the different forms to be distinguished from each other. The number of vertebrae differs, and the follow- RORQUALS 147 ing table shows the numbers for a series of individuals : — B. muscuhts C. 7 D. 15 * L. 14 or 15 t Ca. 26. B. borcalis C. 7 D. 13 or 14 L. 13, 14, or 16 Ca. 19. B. rostrata C. 7 D. 1 1 L. 12 Ca. 17. B. sibbaldii C. 7 D. 1 5 L. 1 5 Ca. 28. It is the rule for the whales of this genus to have all the cervical vertebrae free from each other, not ankylosed in the typical whale fashion. But occasionally two or three are partially fused. This is described by Flower as occurring in B. rostrata. Nor is this occasional peculiarity confined to the species Rostrata. It has been mentioned as occurring in B. borcalis. As to the number of vertebrae, it is noteworthy that it bears some relation to the size of the creatures. Thus the smallest species B. rostrata has the smallest number of vertebrae, and the largest species B. sibbaldii the largest number of vertebrae. It is a feature of this genus for the first rib to be bifid. This structural feature, as has been pointed out, occurs in other Cetacea, and has been made use of for systematic purposes. The late Professor van Beneden, howrever, observes that it is wrongly that " zoologists have thought it their duty to attach a certain importance to this arrangement, which is purely individual." But it is very general. Thus k I have seen only 14 lumbars in a specimen at the British Museum, but 15 on another, t A sixteenth rib has been described (by Sir J. Struthers). 148 A BOOK OF WHALES van Beneden remarks that it has been found to characterise all the examples of B. borealis that have been examined from this point of view, with the exception of a specimen studied by Sir W. Turner in 1882. This state of affairs characterises the two specimens in the British Museum, and therefore the number of ribs allowed in the table on p. 147 must be increased by one. For there can be no doubt that this two- headed rib represents two, as it is articulated with the transverse processes of two vertebrae. As is the case with all Mystacoceti, except Rhachianectes, the first few ribs have capitular processes ; but these processes do not articulate directly with the centra of their respective vertebrae. In B. vmsculus the first three ribs have these processes ; in B. borealis I noticed four ; in B. sibbaldii there were again only three, the last two of which were so much longer that they may perhaps articulate directly with the centra. Professor Delage* has directed attention to the fact that the only rib (the first) which articulates with the sternum does so by two heads ; it is first of all attached by an articular surface, and then by a "pseudo-articular" fibrous surface. This double attachment is, it seems, paralleled in Edentates. The sternum of Bal&noptera is usually a somewhat cruciform bone such as is displayed in the figure on p. 44. The cross-like outline is not always so well marked, and differences in the proportions of the limbs of the cross are evident, and are certainly in * " Histoire du Balcenoptcra muscuhis? Arch. Zool. Experim., \ 885, p. i. RORQUALS 149 some cases due to varying conditions of maturity. Thus Sir W. Flower has figured a sternum of B. borealis, in which the ossified portion consisted only of a roundish piece of bone, the cruciform shape of the entire sternum being, however, shown in the surrounding cartilaginous regions. ^J O <-? As to the number of phalanges in the hand of various species of Balcrnoplera, the following table from Kiikenthal* gives the ascertained facts :— B.sibbaldii I, i II, 5 III, 7 IV, 7 V, 4. B. borealis I, I II, 4 III, 7 IV, 7 V, 4. B. musculus I, i II, 4 III, 7 IV, 6 V, 4. B. musculus I, o II, 5 III, 6 IV, 7 V, 4. B. musculus I, i II, 4 III, 6 IV, 6 V, 5. B. rostmta I, i II, 4 III, 8 IV, 7 V, 4. B. rostrata I, o II, 4 III, 7 IV, 6 V, 3. But these tables, according to Kiikenthal, have to be corrected by his discovery of a rudimentary finger (Fig. 2, p. 9) lying between the third and the fourth of the above enumeration. This consisted in an embryo of Bal&noptera musculus of three slender phalanges lying at the upper (free) end of the interspace between the digits already mentioned. In this case the reputed thumb will be a prepollex, and the missing digit will be No. III. An obvious conclusion with regard to this rudiment is to regard it as a division of a digit, such as has been described in o ' the Beluga. But certain considerations derived from the distribution of the nerves in the hand of this * Op. cit. (on p. 31). 150 A BOOK OF~ WHALES whale seem to negative this view, and to establish the theory that it is really digit III which has thus nearly disappeared. The whales of the genus Balcenpptera have a much more elono-ated form than those of the o-enus Balcena. o o They are also to be distinguished by the presence of a dorsal fin — not large in proportion to the body- which is situated quite at the posterior end of the body. The elongated form conduces towards a greater swiftness of movement ; and for this among other reasons the " Finners," as these whales are termed, are not such profitable creatures to pursue as are the more lethargic Right whales. Besides, the whale- bone is short and the blubber less in amount and inferior in quality. Some two feet is the average length of the whalebone, which contrasts with the o ' twelve or thirteen feet in length of the " bone " of the Greenland whale ; more accurate measurements of the whalebone of the Rorquals is given under the definitions of the four species below. Nevertheless, the Rorquals are hunted, particularly from the coasts of Norway ; and an interesting account of some facts in this fishery has been recently communicated to the Zoological Society of London by Professor Collett. * It is a curious thing that these whales are sometimes pursued with poisoned harpoons ; the poison consists in the decaying flesh of a dead whale, and its effect is to set up septicaemia. The simplicity of this mode of poisoning the prey is curiously paralleled by the poisoned arrows of certain African * Proc. Zool. Soc., 1886, p. 243. RORQUALS 151 tribes, who use the decaying mud of marshes — the effect in this case being tetanus. The Rorquals are among those whales that have preserved a trace of the primitive hairy covering. There are a few hairs present in the adults of these whales, and in an embryo of B. sibbaldii van Beneden figures eleven hairs on each side of the upper jaw and four on each side of the lower. A highly characteristic feature of the Rorquals is the series of longitudinal folds in the throat region. They share these with the genera Rhachianectes and Megaptera alone among whalebone whales ; but the Ziphioids have a few folds in the same region, which are possibly comparable. The number of these folds in species of Balanop- tera varies somewhat. B. rostrata has been stated to possess 54-60 ; in B. sibbaldii Turner counted 60. A larger number, according to Murie, characterises B. muscuhis, for in a specimen of that whale he estimated the total number at about 100. These folds, although spoken of as throat folds, really reach further back than the throat region — indeed, to a point considerably behind the attachment of the pectoral fin. Kukenthal, as well as — long before him -Eschricht, have pointed out that these folds are not found in the youngest embryos — a fact which renders their comparison with the apparently corre- sponding folds of the Ziphioid whales unlikely. In B. muscnlus they were first visible in an embryo of more than 60 cm. long. The meaning from a physio- logical point of view of these folds is to be sought A BOOK OF~ WHALES i from the fashion in which the whale takes in its food. Like the genus Bal rostrata, Rudolphi ; B. laticeps, Gray) ; is in length 40-52 feet. Height to length as i : 5^-. Colour bluish black above, below white ; upper surface with oblong light spots. Dorsal fin high, a little in advance of last third of body. Vent exactly below hinder edge of dorsal fin. Pectoral fins small, -^ of total length of body. Baleen black with white bristles; number of plates 330; greatest length 650 mm. (See Fig. 22.) Of this species, known as Rudolphi's Rorqual, and by the Norwegians as Sejhval, a very complete account of external characters and habits is given by Professor Collett. As will be seen from the dimensions given in the above definition, this is a moderately-sized Rorqual. It seems clear, therefore, that even allowing for the inevitable exaggeration that seems to have accom- panied most descriptions of whales, at any rate in the past, it cannot be identical with the " Ostend whale" * Hist. Nat. Cetac., 1828, p. 342. "On a Specimen of Rudolphi's Rorqual (Balcenoptera borealis) lately taken on the Essex Coast," Proc. Zool. Soc., 1883, p. 513. 4 X LU « 93 u E o I RORQUALS 155 referred by Gray under this specific heading. For the latter measured 102 feet (! !) ; it is probably a B. sibbaldii. As to colour, I give Professor Collett's statements under this head as a part of the specific definition. But Sir William Flower, in de- scribing a specimen stranded near the mouth of the river Crouch, in Essex, quotes Mr. Carrington to the effect that the whale within two days of its capture was "a rich glossy black, which shaded into a brilliant white on the underparts." But little of this whale was known until the establishment of a whale factory at Sorvaer, near Hammerfest, in 1882. The main object of this es- tablishment was the capture of the great Balanoptera sibbaldii, which, as the largest, is the most valuable of the Rorquals. But the present species proved to be the commoner of the two. It had been thought to be a rare whale. Up to and including 1884 but nine individuals had been stranded on the European coasts. When the actual fishery began as many as forty whales were taken in 1883, and forty-four in 1885. The intervening year produced but three. This whale goes about in shoals ; Collett mentions thirteen and five as numbers of individuals in such companies. But it appears that as many as fifty is the limit in size of these shoals. Balcenoptera borealis is inoffensive in character, and accidents are the result of " acci- dent," as is generally the case with whalebone whales, excepting only the fierce Rhachianectes. Under the description of the Right whale the time that it can remain under water is given as a little over one hour 156 A BOOK OF WHALES at most. But as to the present species — and the remarks appear to fit all the species of Balcenoptera — Professor Collett says : "All the whalers are unanimous in opinion that B. borealis (as well as B. musculus and B. sibbaldii) can remain under water for a far greater time than is generally supposed. The duration of this time is estimated to be from eight to twelve hours." This is, if true, a most extraordinary fact. The whales are fished from the shore, and the best period is from the 24th June to the 8th July ; after this they leave the shore on the advent of B. musculus and B. sibbaldii. B. borealis seems to feed entirely on Crustaceans, chiefly the little Copepod Calanus finmarchicus. This species may be recognised by its very high dorsal fin. The two sexes show no difference in size. The furrows on the throat are about 38-58 in number. The adult female has twenty-six hairs on each side of the lower jaw. In the foetus there are more ; thirty-four were counted on the lower and eleven on the upper jaw. The baleen plates are usually black and the bristles white. But there is sometimes a mottlino- or even a o ' few of the foremost plates may be white. The blow holes lie in two long furrows, between which is a shorter furrow. Balcenoptera rostrata, Gray.* Length 25-33 feet. Proportion of height to length as 1:5. Colour greyish * Zool. Er. and Terror, 1846, p. 50. For the structure of this species see TURNER, Proc. Roy. Sac., Ed., 1892, p. 36. CARTE and MACALISTER, Phil. Trans., 1868, p. 201 ; J. B. PERRIN, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1870, p. 805. RORQUALS 157 black above, white below. Dorsal fin high at com- mencement of last third of body. Vent below hind edcve of dorsal fin. Pectoral fin -*- of total length O o O of body. Plates of baleen about 325. Greatest length 200 mm. This is much the smallest of the Rorquals. It is particularly to be distinguished from other Rorquals by the white band which crosses the pectoral limb, and by the sharp snout — hence the specific name of "rostrata." The "bone" too is always of a pale colour, and there are but eleven ribs. Hence this species of Bal&noptera is exceedingly easy to characterise. This whale, which appears to have a liking for the society of the larger Balcenoptera, pursues fishes ; and Hunter noted the discovery of dog-fishes in the stomach of an individual which he dissected. It has been noted too that the stomach contains pebbles. This is curious, for in other whales and in sea-lions the same observation has been made ; possibly in both cases the stones were taken up accidentally while in pursuit of fish. One can hardly believe that any idea of ballast entered into the mind of the Cetacean. Balfenoptera musculus, Linnaeus* (known also as B.physalus, Fabricius; B. rorqual, Lacepecle; Physalus antiquorum, Gray), is in length 60-70 feet. Height * For anatomy see AlURlE, Proc. Zool. Sac., 1865, p. 206 ; HEDDLE, ibid., 1856, p. 187 (called here Physalus duguidi, but probably the same species really); and DELAGE, Arch, de Zool., 1885, p, i. 158 A BOOK OF WHALES as to length as i : 6f . Colour grey- slate above, white below. Dorsal fin low with straight margins ; placed slightly in front of last fourth of body. Vent corresponding in position with its anterior margin. Pectoral fin \ of total length of body. Plates of baleen dark bluish black, also bristles. Number of plates up to 370. Length 950 mm. This is perhaps, speaking from stranded examples, the commonest species of Rorqual. " Specimens are stranded," remarks Mr. Lydekker, "on the British coasts, more especially those of the southern parts of England, almost every year, generally after stormy weather and very frequently during the winter." Dr. Murie, who described many points in the structure of a sixty-foot long individual which was killed at Gravesend in 1859, describes the number of throat plaits as "somewhere about one hundred." In this individual the dorsal fin measured only 15 inches in height. A curious asymmetry in the coloration of this species has been noted by more than one observer — " a sort of pleuronectism," van Beneden terms it. The body is sometimes paler upon one side than upon the other ; apparently there is no constancy as to which side is the paler or the darker. This Balcsnoptera devours fish, and as many as 800 individuals of Osmerus arcticiis have been found in the stomach of a whale. It is chiefly herrings that it pursues on the coasts of Norway and Great Britain. The four species just characterised are the only RORQUALS 159 species that are really known to exist. But the genus is by no means confined to the northern hemisphere, whence the individuals have been found whose study has allowed of the compilation of the above diagnoses. There are plenty of Bal&noptera in the southern hemisphere, off the coasts of Patagonia, Kerguelen, in the Indian ocean, and elsewhere. These whales have been placed in different species by Gray and others. It may be that such a placing is correct ; and, at any rate, we have before us an instance of a large whale which has an extremely restricted range in the true Greenland whale ; possibly also Rhackianectes is another. But notwithstanding this a priori consideration there seem to be no sub- stantial grounds for retaining such species as B. indie a > B. patachonica, B. schlegelii, etc. As to external characters, the bulk of these extra European Balanoptera are not known, and it is always possible that there may be such characters which would justify their separation specifically. But as to such parts of the skeleton as are known there is no such justification. Sir W. Turner, in his account of the Cetacean remains collected by the Challenger, had no hesitation in referring these bones to some of the o four known species of Rorquals. Two Pacific whales are known by different names ; and as observation upon some of their characteristics are mentioned by Scammon, some little account will be given here ; but it is probable that B. supkureus is nothing more than B. sibbaldii, while the white band upon the flipper of B. davidsoni seems to show its identity with B. rostrata. 160 A BOOK OF WHALES Balcenoptera davidsoni of Scammon, the "sharp- headed Firmer whale," is a small species of which only one example, measuring 27 feet, was examined. It was full grown, as is evinced by the fact that from it was withdrawn a foetus of 5 feet 6 inches in length. It had very pointed pectorals with a white band above and near the bases. The baleen is pure white, 270 laminae on each side of the mouth, the longest lamina measuring- 10 inches. The colour of the animal was O dull black above, white below, and the under side of both pectoral and caudal fins was also white. The throat had seventy longitudinal folds. The blubber of this whale averaged three inches in thickness, and the yield of oil was about 300 gallons. This whale goes about singly, and when it spouts it makes "a quick, faint spout," like that of a calf, which accounts for its having been considered to be the young of some other species. The " Sulphur- Bottom whale" (Balcenoptera (Sib- baldius] stiphureus, Cope) is a huge creature, of which an example has been measured and found to be 95 feet in length with a girth of 39. In this indi- vidual the baleen was four feet in length, and the yield of oil 110 barrels. The animal .weighed 147 tons. It derives its name from the yellowish colour of the underparts ; the back is lighter in colour than is usual, and is sometimes very light brown, approach- ing to white. This whale occurs in the Atlantic as o well as in the Pacific. As other whales are wont to do, the Sulphur- Bottom will often follow ships. Dr. Stillman relates how a whale of this species RORQUALS 161 followed the ship in which he was a passenger for no less than twenty-four consecutive days. In spite of "volley after volley" of rifle shots and missiles of all kinds the whale adhered to the ship, which caused some anxiety, as it was feared that he might unship the rudder or do other damage. The only harm that happened was that the whale rose to "blow almost into the cabin windows." Balcenoptera australis, the " Sulphur- Bottom" of Antarctic whalers, is, according to von Haast, * nothing more than B. musculus. A specimen which he describes was thrown up about five miles from Christchurch, New Zealand, and 67 feet in length. As the creature was much injured by sharks, the external characters could not be given with even an approach to precision. But the skeleton seemed to show clearly that there were no recognisable differ- ences from Balffnoptera musculus. But then, as already said, two quite different species might con- ceivably have a quite similar skeleton, showing their specific difference only in colour and other outward features. The genus MEGAPTERA is distinguished by the following assemblage of characters : Dorsal fin not very prominent ; throat plaits fairly numerous ; scapula with no marked acromion or coracoid process; pectoral fin very elongate. * " Notes on a Skeleton of Balcenoptera australis, Desmoulins, the Great Southern Rorqual or ' Sulphur-Bottom ' of Whalers," Proc. Zool. Soc., 1883, p. 592. M 162 A BOOK OF WHALES Me^aptera is not widely removed in its structural characters from Balt&noptera. Externally it is to be distinguished by its more ungainly form, its very long pectoral limbs which are fringed along the anterior margin, and by the low dorsal fin. The tail is also fringed with numerous serrations ; but they are un- connected with deeper lying parts. In the case of the flipper the rounded processes of the margin are the outward expression of the bulging of the inter- phalangeal cartilages. The skeleton of Megaptera has been described by many ; the most elaborate account of it with which I am acquainted is contained in a paper by Sir John Struthers.* Generally speaking the differences from Balanoptera are neither numerous nor important. The seven cervical vertebrae are not united ;t there are fourteen dorsals, ten lumbar, and twenty-one caudals. The sternum of Megaptera is not widely different from that of Bal&noptera. It has a somewhat cruciform shape. The first rib (and that only) is attached to it by a single continuous ligamentous connection ; there are not two distinct attachments as in Baleznoptera musculus, as described by Struthers and Delage (quoted on p. 157). The scapula is peculiar in the practical absence of both acromion and coracoid process ; it is moreover Jouin. Anat. Piiys., vols. xxii., xxiii. More recently Gervais (Nouv. Arch. Mus., 1888, p. 199) has dealt with and figured the osteology of a form from the Persian Gulf which he calls M. indica. t Occasionally, to a variable extent, they are in later life. RORQUALS 163 higher, and not so long as in Balanoptera, having more the shape so far of the sternum of Balccna. The differing proportions of greatest length and height of the sterna of Megaptera and of Balcenoptera can be appreciated from the following measurements : Megaptera. Length, 42 inches ; height, 30 inches. Balanoptera musculus. Length, 39 inches ; height, 22^- inches. The pelvic bone is provided with a small femur, a feature in which the present genus resembles certain species of Balcenoptera. There is, however, apparently no trace of a tibia such as occurs in the Greenland whale. The head is often studded with tubercles,^ and so is the margin of the flipper. The throat has the longitudinal grooves so characteristic of the family Balsenopteridae. These, however, vary in number considerably, and species seem to have been partly characterised by their numbers. Some of the numbers given by Scammon, and the sex and total lengths of the whales in question, are as follows :— No. i. Male. Length, 49 feet 7 inches ; gular folds, 26. No. 2. Female. Length, 48 feet; gular folds, 21. No. 3. Female. Length, 48 feet; gular folds, 18. No. 4. Female. Length, 52 feetf ; gular folds, ? * These tubercles are of about the size of an orange. They suggest the hair bulbs found in the Balaenopteras, and remains of hairs have been found in them. There is probably some connection between these "tumours" and the otherwise missing hairs. t It is said that this whale grows to a length of 75 feet ; but, as observed in the case of the Sperm whale (see p. 200), such measurements have to be received with caution. 1 64 A BOOK OF WHALES They are never so numerous, it will be noted, as in Bal&noptera. Scammon has found that this whale varies more than others in the production of oil, a circumstance which would seem to be dependent on the condition of the animal at the time of capture. It also depends upon sex and the period of breeding, for the female, when accompanied by a cub to whom she is giving suck, has less blubber than at other times. The baleen of this whale, as in the case of the Rorquals, is not longer than two to three feet. The only species of the genus that can be safely allowed at present is Megaptera longimana, Rudolphi,* of which the following must then be regarded as merely synonyms : - Balccua hoops, Fabricius; B. poeskop,} Desmoulins; B. lalandii, Fischer ; Baltenoptera capensis, Smith ; Baltznoptera leucopteron, Lesson ; Megaptera novae zelandiae, Gray ; Megaptera burmeisteri, Gray ; Megaptera americana, Gray ; Balcena antarctica, Temminck ; M. kuzira, Gray ; M. versabilis, Cope ; M. osphyia, Cope. Notwithstanding the immense variety of names given in the above synonyms, Sir W. Flower and most others think that there is but a single Hump- backed whale of universal range. As to a goodly * Abh. Ak. Berlin, 1829, p. 133. t This is not, as perhaps might be imagined, a classical word significant of the possible affinities of the Cetacea, and meaning "one who gazes upon the grass." It is Dutch in origin, obvious in meaning, but untranslatable here. RORQUALS 165 number of the late Dr. Gray's "species" Captain Scammon observes : " We have frequently recognised upon the California coast every species here described, and even in the same school or 'gam.' Moreover, we have experienced the greatest difficulty in finding any two of these strange animals externally alike, or possessing any marked generic or specific differ- ences." If there are differences of colour, Scammon goes on to remark, the number of species must be quite indefinite, as every combination and permutation of black, white, and grey are to be found in their colour. It is pointed out, however, by MM. van Beneden and Gervais (in their Osteographie dcs Ce'tace'es} that the southern form of Megaptera, which has been termed M. lalandii, differs from the northern by certain features in the scapula. In the former animal there is a distinct though small projection from the margin of the bladebone in front, which occupies the place of an acromion, and, what is more remark- able, an acromion like that of Platanista^ that is, a rising from the edge of the scapula. Of this process there is no trace in the northern Megaptera, but, on the other hand, a faint process not so well marked, and lying lower clown on the bone, occupying in fact rather the position of a rudimentary coracoid process. The name "Hump-backed" applied to this Ceta- cean is due to the low dorsal fin, in the relative size of which, however, there seems from the various figures published to be some differences. It is, how- 1 66 A BOOK OF ~ WHALES ever, to be distinguished from the Rorquals proper by its ungainly form and the great length of the pectoral fins (13 feet or so). Its colour is usually black, pure white on the under surface of tail and flipper. "In disposition," observes Mr. Lydekker, "it is neither very timorous nor very fierce, and is conse- quently easy to capture." It seems thus to have an intuitive knowledge of the poorness of its oil and the shortness of its "bone." Acting upon this it will swim fearlessly round boats, and when these whales are in herds, as is sometimes the case, some caution has to be exercised to avoid a collision with them. The Humpback is much addicted, remarks Captain Scammon, to "breaching," "bolting," and "finning," which vices mean, it should be explained, leaping out of the water, shooting out diagonally, and striking the water with its flukes. Durincr the breeding o o season Megaptera is remarkable for " its 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 sword-fish and thrasher attacking whales. When lying side by side of each other the megapteras frequently administer alternate blows with their long fins, which love-pats may, on a still day, be heard at a distance of miles. " They may also be seen to roll about in the water and beat themselves with their long flippers ; but this seems to be due to an anxiety to rid themselves of the parasites which infest them." These whales, like others, are also to be noted for RORQUALS 167 their affection towards their young. The fact that they will leap clean out of the water appears to distinguish the whales of this genus from any other whalebone whale. Guldbersr* states that this whale <_? carries its young for 10-12 months. Only one (rarely two) are produced at a time. There is some relation between size and time of gestation, for Balcenoptera sibbaldii, a larger species, carries its young over a year. Other Balsenopteras have the same period of gestation as Megaptera. The foal, as in whales generally, is when born \-\ of the length of the mother. Dr. Gray thinks that Balcenoptera jubartes of Lacepede f (=JBal&Ha boops of Linnaeus) is the same whale as the common Rorqual, Balcenoptera musculus. It seems, however, to be likely from the figure, bad enough, it is true, that Lacepede gives of it, especially on account of the "warts" upon the face, that the animal is really the Humpback. It is related by Lacepede that the animal was in his time let alone by the Icelanders. Probably the real reason is that which protects it at the present time, i.e., the in- feriority of its valuable productions. But the author whom we quote observes that the whale was held to be the friend of man, like the Amazonian dolphin referred to on p. 271. It is related that, when the frail barques of the natives are surrounded by the ferocious and carnivorous Cetacea of the north which * Zoolog.Jahrb., Syst. Theil, 1887, p. 127. t Histoire naturelle des Cetacees. Paris. Xllth year of the Republic (1804). 1 68 A BOOK OF' WHALES * threaten danger, the Megaptera will endeavour to rescue its friends from the danger which environs them, and will accompany them until they arrive close to shore and have escaped the Sperm whales, of whose real ferocity Lacepede is so fully convinced. The genus RHACHIANECTES may be thus defined: Dorsal fin none ; throat plaits reduced to two. Scapula high. This genus was described some years since by Cope. I am able to write the following brief notice of the principal characters of the skeleton, after examining a complete skeleton in the British Museum. * The skull of the whale is, on the whole, Rorqual- like. It is, however, narrower anteriorly than in Rorquals ; and this is accounted for on a lateral view by the fact that the pre-maxillaries are, as it were, pinched up in the middle line by the maxillaries and are quite visible from the side. In this feature the skull of Rhachianectes resembles that of a Right whale. In Balcenoptera those bones are hardly visible on a lateral view of the skull. In other respects the skull of Rhachianectes differs but slightly from that of Balcenoptera. In the vertebral column the atlas was missing; the remaining vertebrae are quite independent of each other as in the Rorquals ; and they have the wide * See for notes on Osteology v. BENEDEN, Bull Ac. Belg., xliii (1877), p. 92, and MALM, Bik. Svcnsk Akad., viii. (1883). RORQUALS 169 lateral foramina formed by the transverse processes, which is so conspicuous a feature of those vertebrae in Balanoptera and Megaptera. I counted 14 dorsal vertebrae, 14 lumbar, and 21 caudals. The ribs are also fourteen, and the first two are incompletely soldered together, not so completely as in the " Hunterius temminckii" figured by Gray in his Catalogue. The mode of fusion was different on the two sides of the body ; but as this feature is probably a mere variation, and not distinctive of species or of genus, it is not worth while to give a detailed description of the arrangement. The sternum is like that of a Rorqual ; it is cross- shaped, but the arms of the cross are very short, and the posterior termination is almost a fine point. The pelvis consisted of but a single bone, but a rudi- mentary femur may have disappeared. The one species is Rhachianectes glaucus, Cope ^ As is the case with so many whales, this species varies somewhat in colour. It varies from a mottled grey to black. The length of a full-grown example is from 40 to 44 feet, but individuals somewhat larger than this have been met with. Such indi- viduals would yield some twenty barrels of oil, but as many as seventy barrels have been obtained from a larger specimen. The baleen reaches a length of 14 to 1 6 inches, and is light in colour, sometimes nearly white. The Gray whale is limited so far * Proc. Acad. Nat Set., Philadelphia, 1868, p. 225. i yo A BOOK OF WHALES as is known to the Pacific coasts of North America. In the summer it is found in arctic regions ; in the winter it descends to warmer latitudes, but does not migrate below 20.0 N. It is essentially a coast species, frequenting shoal waters, and has been observed to lie and play among the breakers in water not more than 13 feet deep. During the season of gestation they will even lie in water of two feet, waiting aground until the rising tide floated them off. Aelian also stated that whales bask on the shore in the rays of the sun ! The pursuit of this whale is distinctly dangerous.* For the animal will, if her young be injured, pursue the boat and overturn it or stave it in with a stroke of the flukes. Apart from such danger, owing to the deliberate attacks of the whale, the whalers undergo much risk on account of the fact that the whales are pursued in shallow water, which naturally gets turbid through the struggles and rapid movements of the whale, and thus renders it difficult to see the exact position of the creature, and to escape from its rushes or the strokes of its ponderous tail. The pursuit of this whale only dates from the year 1846, and from that year to 1874 or 1875 Scammon thinks that about 10,800 must have been destroyed. * A " cunning, courageous, and vicious " animal, says Mr J. D. Caton ("The California Grey Whale," American Nat., xxii., p. 509). The same author has also stated that an individual of this species actually pursued a boat's crew on land and " treed them all " ! RORQUALS IT i EXTINCT BAL^NIDS There are three important facts with regard to the extinct representatives of the whalebone whales. Firstly, none are known from an earlier period than the Miocene ; secondly, the earliest forms appear to be Balaenopterids ; and lastly, the more ancient whales were not larger than existing forms. On the contrary, this is a group which has increased considerably in size. One of the best known forms, as it is represented by a nearly complete skeleton, is the Miocene and Pliocene Plesiocetus. P. C2ivicri was a smallish whale, not more than 2 1 feet long, and distinctly belongs to the Balsenopterid type. The chief interest attaching to this whale is the length of the frontal, so very abbreviated in other recent whales, and the share which the parietals take in the formation of the roof of the skull. In the living whalebone whales these bones are covered in by the supra-occipital. Like the modern Bal&noptera this genus comprises both large and small species. Cope states that Plesiocetus brialuwnti was some 60 feet in length. o Mesoteras of Cope was thought by him to be some- what intermediate between Balcenoptera and Balcena. It has "the characters of the Finner whales (£>al of the tubercula of their respective ribs. But the corresponding articular facets upon the centra for the capitula of the ribs are not arranged in so uniform a fashion, but vary as follows : The first four vertebrae have facets upon their centra posteriorly 196 A BOOK OF WHALES for the reception of the heads of ribs II-V. The fifth vertebra has, in addition to the posterior facet, one small one upon the anterior edge of the centrum, so that the capitulum of the fifth rib is inter-central, articulating, as it does, with two centra. In the sixth vertebra it is the anterior of the two centrum-facets which is the larger. In the case of the next vertebra the posterior facet is still further reduced, while the anterior facet is borne upon a tubercle. The characters of the eighth vertebra are an exaggeration of those of the seventh, and in the ninth there is no trace at all of the posterior facet. The tenth vertebra is peculiar by reason of the fact that the lar^e tubercle which arises from the centrum o and carries the capitular head of the rib bends back above and nearly joins the transverse process of the neural arch, a canal, nearly complete, being formed between the two. The rib of this vertebra is in consequence only provided with a capitulum. The last dorsal vertebra has a very long lateral process arising from the centrum, bearing at its extremity the rudimentary eleventh rib. The transverse process has completely disappeared. The eight lumbar vertebrae are keeled below. There are fourteen chevron bones. A curious matter concerning the ribs was asserted o by Wall. He stated that the ribs of the left side are of larger dimensions than those of the right. The asymmetry of the head is thus alleged to be extended to the trunk. Sir W. Flower so far supported this view by stating that the total weight of the ribs of SPERM WHALES 197 the right side was 163 Ibs. 9^ ozs., as against 164 Ibs. 5^ ozs. for those of the left side. The sternum of the Cachalot is a roughly triangular bone, made up of three pieces. Two of these are paired and anterior, and enclose (in the dried skeleton) a foramen between them ; the third piece is posterior and smaller, and shows some indications of a longitu- dinal division into two. Four (cartilaginous) ribs seem to be attached to the sternum. " The scapula is higher in proportion to its breadth than in any other Cetacean." It is remarkably con- cave on the outer and convex on the inner side. There are six separate carpals (if we include the pisiform), and the phalangeal formula is as follows :— I, i. II,5. Ill, 5. IV, 4. V)3. AMBERGRIS Ambergris is a well-known product of this whale. Though the name has obviously no connection with this quality ambergris is a somewhat greasy substance, found floating in the sea or more generally washed ashore. It is a secretion of the intestine of the Cachalot, comparable apparently to bezoar stones. The fact that the substance was found to contain the beaks of cuttlefish suggested its origin, which was con- firmed by finding it actually in the alimentary canal of a Cachalot. When taken from the alimentary canal the substance is greasy and of a disagreeable smell. After exposure it hardens and acquires its ' peculiar sweet earthy odour." From certain chemi- cal facts it has been inferred that ambergris is a biliary ig8 A BOOK OF WHALES concretion, closely resembling cholesterine. But its appearance in the whales is pathological and not natural ; for those individuals in which it was found were dead or in a sickly condition. Ambergris has been used as a medicine, even as an aphrodisiac ; it is now solely used in perfumery. It is mainly used as a vehicle for various perfumes, and is worth from 1 5$. to 255. per ounce. A piece of ambergris has been found worth no less than ,£500; it weighed 130 Ibs. A larger piece even than that has been stated to have been in the possession of the Dutch East India Com- pany ; it weighed 982 Ibs.* The origin of ambergris was known more or less definitely so long ago as the middle of the sixteenth century. That is to say, it was known to be the product of a whale, though not known to be confined to the Sperm whale. A section of Olaus Magnus' Historia, de Gentibus Septentrionalibus is headed, " De Spermate Ceti, quod Ambra dicitur, et ejus medicinis." He describes it as found floatino- in the o sea, as being of a blue colour with a whitish tinge, i.e., grey. It is held to be the sperm of the whale, and is set down as an excellent remedy for syncope and epilepsy. But in 1672 the Hon. Robert Boyle transcribed the contents of a manuscript found on board of a Dutch vessel, which asserted that this substance " is not the scum or excrement of the whale, but issues out of the root of a tree, which tree howso- ever it stands on the land, alwaies shoots forth its roots towards the sea, seeking the warmth of it, * VAN BENEDEN and GERVAIS, Osteograpliie des Ceiacees, p. 304. SPERM WHALES 199 thereby to deliver the fattest gum that comes out of it, which tree otherwise by its copious fatness might be burnt and destroyed." A curious mingling of truth with inaccuracy is shown in the views upon this substance of Sir Thomas Brown. He describes in the Philosophical Transac- tions (vol. xxxiii., p. 193) a Sperm whale cast up on the shore of Norfolk. "In vain," he writes, "it was to rake for ambergriese in the paunch of this leviathan, as Greenland discoverers, and attests of experience dictate, that they sometimes swallow great lumps thereof in the sea — insufferable fetor denying that inquiry ! " It appears, therefore, that the author of Relioio Medici knew that ambero-ris was found in o o the alimentary canal of the Sperm whale, but thought that it was swallowed by the creature. From this perhaps were derived two alternative views of the nature of ambergris given in Johnsons Dictionary (edition of 1818). It is described as the excrement of birds washed off rocks and swallowed by birds, or honeycombs that have fallen into the sea. Physeter macrocephalus, Linnaeus* (with probable synonyms : P. catodon, Fabricius ; P. gibbosus, Schreber ; P. trumpo, Gerard ; P. polyclystiis, Couch ; Catodon aiistralis, MacLeay ; C. colneti, Gray ; P. polycyphus, Ouoy and Gaimard), is really the only species that can be satisfactorily allowed. The above list of synonyms shows that there were held to be several species of Sperm whales. But * Systema Natur., I2th ed., i., p. 107. 2 co A BOOK OF WHALES we may safely follow Sir William Flower in holding that there is but one species properly definable, which is of wide range, and may be also of certain varia- bility of outward form. The mysterious " High- nnned Cachalot" will be considered a few pages further on. This single species ranges from China to Peru, in fact it is a denizen of all the oceans ; and as a rule it is found far from land, preferring the deeper waters. This whale cannot be confounded with any other ; its thick, blunt head, a third of the length of the body, distinguishes it at once. The muzzle, how- ever, is not so abruptly truncated as is often figured (e.g., by Scammon) ; it slopes forward two metres beyond the front end of the jaw.* The skull, how- ever, does not correspond in form to the head. The whole upper surface of the head is occupied by the "case" in which lies the spermaceti fluid during the life of the animal. The males of the whale are considerably larger than the females. The size of the former appears, however, to have been exag- gerated. Beale gives from actual measurements 84 feet as the length. But Sir W. Flower thinks that this measurement and similar ones are not always trustworthy, from the fact that there is no indication whether they refer to actual length or are taken along the curves of the body. From a com- * POUCHET and CHAVES "Des formes exterieures du Cachalot," Jonrn. de fAnat., 1890. See also (for internal anatomy) POUCHET and BEAURE- GARD, " Recherches sur le Cachalot," in Noicv. Arch, du Mus. (3), vols. i. and iv. ' II vo , M * SPERM WHALES 201 parison of various skeletons of old animals it seems that 55 feet, possibly 60, is the outside total length of a male Sperm whale. The colour of the whale is black, getting grey beneath. The blow hole is single, and is described as being of the shape of an italic f\ it is placed near the front end of the snout. Underneath the blow hole is a longitudinal groove, the nature of which is obscure. This whale has no definite dorsal fin, but a series of lowish humps, of which the first is the most promi- nent. The throat has two grooves, like those of Ziphioid whales. The tail is very deeply cleft terminally, and one flap lies over the other. The Sperm whale feeds mainly upon cuttlefish ; but fishes have been found to be also eaten. It is said to feed by dropping the huge lower jaw,* " thereby exhibiting its polished white teeth, which attract within its reach the swimming food, while the creature moves along through the ocean's depths." Its food is never apparently composed of larger creatures than bonitos and albicores ; but the throat is said to be large enough to swallow a man, and naturally the Cachalotf has been identified with the whale of Jonah, and also with the Leviathan of Job. The pectoral fins are not large, measuring about six feet in a full-grown whale. * But MM. Pouchet and Chaves (Journ. de VAnat., 1890) think that this is impossible. t Cachalot is a Bayonne word, and is said to come from the Catalan quichal or from the Spanish quixal (tooth or jaw). The Italians call it capidoglio = oil-head . 202 A BOOK OF' WHALES The Cachalot 'will remain under water from fifty minutes to an hour and a quarter. When it spouts it does so for the space of about three seconds, and the column of vapour ejected can be seen from the masthead at a distance of three to five miles. The spouting of the Sperm whale can be readily distinguished from that of other whales from the fact that the blow hole is single, and the column of breath condensed is also a single fountain, not a double jet, as in other whales. Moreover, as the blow hole is situated further forwards than in other whales the jet is not directed upwards but forwards ; these characters serve the spouting of the Sperm whale to be clearly distinguished. This whale is intertropical in range,* and is only an accidental visitor to the arctic regions. It travels in "schools." When solitary individuals are seen, such as those which have been rarely cast up on our shores, they seem to be generally old males. This great " sea-should'ring whale" indulges in a variety of antics ; it will leap completely out of the water, coming down with a heavy splash that can be seen from the masthead at a distance of ten miles. These active leaps are said to be indulged in by the whale for the purpose of ridding itself of certain external parasites. The whale will also poke its head out of the water to look or listen, assuming then a perfectly upright position. The great strength of the whale is indicated by * Mr. Beale's work upon the Sperm whale is the classic in its habits and pursuit. SPERM WHALES 203 its capability of throwing itself out of the water. Mr. Aflalo relates the circumstance of having seen O an individual hurl itself out three or four times running. This great strength is sometimes disastrous to the whale fishers. " It has been the general belief," O remarks Captain Scammon, " that the Sperm whale is excessively timid ; but if this is its general character there are many exceptions among the larger males, for when attacked they have in repeated instances turned upon their pursuers in the most defiant manner, and their own disfigured jaws, which are their principal weapons of defence, prove that they either engage in desperate contentions with their kind, or with some unknown leviathan inhabiting the deep. Moreover, it is we believe a well-established fact that ships have been sunk by the deliberate assaults of vicious, grey-headed, old Cachalots." Captain Scammon gives several instances of such assaults. The creatures butt at the vessel with their massive forehead, and have been known to stave a vessel in ; but it does not always seem clear whether this is accidental or due to mere confusion on the part of the whale, or is a deliberate attack. But there is one instance related where the whale ' Marco Polo (Travels of Marco Polo, Yule) explained such events otherwise: "for when the ship in her course by night sends a ripple back alongside of the whale, the creature seeing the foam fancies there is something to eat afloat and makes a rush forward, whereby it often shall stave in some part of the ship." Mr. Bullen, in his recently- published Cruise of the Cachalot, figures a Sperm whale about to bite a boat in two ; it has turned over on its back for the purpose. 204 A BOOK OF WHALES attacked one after another a number of boats which had left the vessel for its capture, giving chase to each. Captain Scammon thinks that in some cases vessels which have been mysteriously lost at sea have been sunk by Cachalots. The at least occasional ferocity of Cachalots is emphasised by a name given to such whales; they are spoken of as "eating whales." FIG. 27. SPERM WHALE (?) ATTACKING A SHIP. (From Olaus Magnus.) It may be that the males, as in so many other kinds of animals, fight for the females, and that the black bulk of a whaling vessel may be mistaken for one of their own kind ; the solitary males which are thus ferocious may further be comparable to " rogue " elephants driven out of the herd by their companions. A species, called by Dr. Gray Pliyseter tursio> SPERM WHALES 205 and with many other names, must be mentioned as an appendix to our account of Pkyseter macro- cephalus. Considering that " there is not a bone, nor even a fragment of a bone, that can be proved to have belonged to a specimen of this gigantic animal to be seen in any museum in Europe," it may seem somewhat unnecessary to devote any space to its consideration. Yet so much has been written about this mysterious creature that it cannot be passed by in silence. The species was established on the good faith of Sibbald, who was certainly accurate in his accounts of other whales ; thus there would be & prinid facie reason for accepting his dicta, improbable though they may sound. This creature, according to him,- is a great whale not inferior in size to the Cachalot, but differing from it in the presence of a large falcate dorsal fin, and also apparently by the presence of numerous teeth in both jaws of equal size. One view is that Sibbald was deceived by a Killer whale into forming this new variety. But though Orca* grows to a large size, none have been recorded of the length of over 50 feet, which is the length assigned to Pkyseter tursio. The " High-finned Cachalot," as this dubious whale has been termed, is a native of our coasts if of anywhere, and an example was stated to have been thrown ashore in Orkney in 1687, and other observers have increased the mystery by saying that it often comes ashore in those localities. Since so good a naturalist as the late Mr. Thomas Bell admits * The Orca of Pliny appears to have been a Cachalot. 206 A BOOK OF WHALES this whale into his book of British Mammals, we shall allow it a place in the present book. As to this fin, it has been described as presenting the appearance of the mast of a ship, so long and straight is it. In addition to this fin, there are said to be a few low bosses or humps ; this perhaps is the secret of the mystery. In a stranded Cachalot which I saw at Birchington some months since it appeared to me that the commencement of the dorsal fin was rather higher than is generally represented ; a little exaggeration and we have the High-finned Cachalot at once. As to its ferocity, etc., that is just as suitable, according to many, to the ordinary Cachalot. Lacepede prefers to call it Pkyseter tmtlar, and says that it grows to a length of 33 metres! He further remarks that it travels in herds with a leader, the largest of the gamme. This beast leads to the attack or retreat, and, " according to a sailor quoted by Anderson, it gives the signal by a terrible cry, of which the echo travels far along the surface of the water, of victory or of a precipitate flight." Under the name of Pkyseter microps Lacepede has described a whale no doubt really identical with the Cachalot, but which Dr. Gray regards as a " High- finned Cachalot." "It is," remarks Count Lacepede, "one of the largest, most cruel, and most dangerous inhabitants of the sea." The suggestion is made that the story of Perseus and Andromeda is based upon a ferocious Cachalot, and that the Orca described by Ariosto, which was to devour Angelica chained to a SPERM WHALES 207 rock upon the coast of Brittany, is referable to this creature. There is a story told of the Emperor Claudius who engaged in battle with his pretorian guards a monster of this species at the port of Ostia. It can hardly be right to refer this animal to anything but the species Physeter macrocepkalus, for there is no suggestion, except by native Greenlanders, that there are teeth in the upper jaw, and probably these teeth are the rudimentary ones so common in the Sperm and Ziphioid whales. Still it is alleged to possess the hypothetical dorsal fin of the mysterious species to be described later. Of this whale in December, 1723, seventeen examples were thrown up on the shores of the Elbe. A more remarkable stranding of Cachalots occurred on the coast of France in the year 1/84. "On the i3th March'," writes Lacepede, "were seen with great surprise a quantity of fishes throwing themselves out of the water on to the shore, and a great number of porpoises enter the harbour of Andierne. The i4th at six o'clock in the morning the sea was high, and the wind blew from the south- west with violence. Extraordinary bellowings were heard towards Cape Estain, which were audible in the country at a distance of more than four kilometres. Two men who were coasting alon^ the shore were o o seized with terror when they saw at a little distance some enormous animals, which were struggling with violence and attempted to resist the foaming waves which rolled them over and hurled them towards the shore. . . . The fright of the spectators increased when the first of these Cetaceans, struggling uselessly with 2o8 A BOOK OF" WHALES the waves, were thrown on the sand ; the terror redoubled when they saw them followed by a very large number of these colossal and living Cetaceans." There were altogether thirty-two of the monsters stranded on that occasion. It is a curious fact that the majority of these individuals were females. They had probably sought the shore for breeding purposes. This whale, as is related of so many others, is said to possess a great tenderness for its offspring. As with other whales but one is born at a time, but occasionally there are two.* EXTINCT ODONTOCETES We shall refer here to two extinct Cetaceans from the Miocene of Patagonia, of which one at any rate —Physodon — is apparently a Physeterid. As to the other, its systematic position is not so plain. Physo- don, when it is more fully known, will probably have to be placed in a distinct family, Physodontidae. The general outline of the skull is much like that of Physeter. It is crested, as in that whale, but the rostrum is shorter, and so comes to resemble that of Kogia. As Kogia appears to be a more ancient type of Physeterid than Physeter, this likeness is perhaps of some significance. Its most salient feature is the existence of teeth in both upper and lower jaws. In the upper there are some 22 teeth on each side, and 24 on each ramus of the mandible. A noteworthy * See also for stranded Sperm whales TURNER, " Notes on some Rare Prints of Stranded W hales," Jonrn. Anat. Phys., xii., 1878, p. 593. FOSSIL TOOTHED WHALES 209 point is that some of the upper jaw teeth are im- planted in the pre-maxillse. The total length of the skull is about 10 feet, so that it falls short of that of the Sperm whale. Argyrocetus pat agonic us is mainly known from a skull. This shows that the animals were about as big as the dolphin genus Steno. It shows several archaic characters. In the first place the occipital condyles, whereon articulates the first vertebra, are in shape more like those of terrestrial mammals in- stead of being adpressed to the skull, as in the Cetacea generally. The nasal bones too are large and well developed ; the rostrum is long and slender ; the skull generally is bilaterally symmetrical. It has been pointed out by Mr. Lydekker* that the fossse upon the maxillary bones are squared and flattened like those of Pontoporia. As in the Platanistids, moreover, the cervical vertebrae, or at any rate cervicals found in association with the skull, are all free, and longer than is the rule among more modified Cetacea. The end of the mandible is up- turned, smooth, and without teeth, and is unlike that of any existing Cetacean. * Ann. Mus de la Plata, 1893. CHAPTER IX. BEAKED WHALES FAMILY, ZIPH1IDAE ANOTHER group is formed by the Ziphioid A\. whales, which should perhaps be only regarded as a sub-family Ziphiinae. The whales of this sub- family or family are of moderate size, not exceeding -so far as we know from actual measurement — a little over thirty feet. They are also fairly rare, and seem for the most part to live singly, so that their bodies have been but rarely thrown up upon the shore. Moreover, they seem to be most prevalent in the southern hemisphere ; hence their occurrences would be far likelier upon the great stretches of desolate coasts which abound in the southern half of the globe to go unnoticed. Their rarity at present contrasts with the relative abundance which once obtained on the surface of the earth. This leads, remarks Sir W. Flower, "to the belief that the existing Ziphioids are the survivors of an ancient family which once played a far more important part than now among the Cetacean inhabitants of the ocean, but which have been gradually replaced by other forms, and are themselves probably destined ere long to share the fate of their once numerous 2IO BEAKED WHALES 211 allies or progenitors." Since the words just quoted were written (in the year 1871) more has been dis- covered and written about this group of Cetaceans ; but they still remain a group or family that requires much further study before they are as well known as some other families of Cetaceans. Their rarity is emphasised by the fact that almost every individual seen or captured has received a different name. Berardius is only known by three specimens, Meso- plodon grayi by two or three. The late Mr. P. H. Gosse thus wrote of a mysterious " Delphinorhyn- chus " ( = Mesoplodon) observed by himself in the Atlantic : — " During my voyage to Jamaica, when in lat. 19 N., and long, from 46 to 48 W., the ship was surrounded for seventeen continuous hours with a troop of whales, of a species which is certainly undescribed. I had ample opportunity for examina- tion, and found that it was a Delpkinorkynckus, thirty feet in length, black above and white beneath, with the swimming paws white on the under surface, and isolated by the surrounding black of the upper parts — a very remarkable character. This could not have been the Toothless whale of Havre, and there is no other with which it can be confounded. Here, then, is a whale of large size, occurring in great numbers in the North Atlantic, which on no other occasion has fallen under scientific observation." The Toothless whale of Havre, it may be remarked, named Aodon dalei, seems to be merely a toothless, probably aged, example of Mesoplodon bidens. Apart from Hyperoodon, which has been long 212 A BOOK OF WHALES known, and which is fairly abundant, the Ziphioid whales were entirely unknown to science until the beginning of the present century ; and up to the year iS/i only some thirty individuals had been caught or stranded. The Ziphioid whales agree in the following assem- blage of characters :— 1. The functional teeth are limited to one or two pairs, which are only developed in the mandible. In addition to these there are a number of small teeth in both jaws, which are not recognisable in skulls, as they come away with the gums, and are hidden by them during life. 2. The skull is characterised by the marked prom- inence behind the nares, by an elevation of the maxillae (exceedingly developed in Hyperoodoii), by the long rostrum, by the large solid pterygoids which meet in the middle line, and by a distinct and separate malar bone. 3. The vertebrae are not more than fifty in number ; their spines (in the dorsal and lumbar regions) are very long ; the transverse processes of the neural arches of the dorsal vertebrae, as a rule, cease abruptly near to the end of the series, and are replaced upon the succeeding vertebrae by similar processes which arise from the bodies of the vertebrae {Hyperoodon is exceptional). 4. The ribs are not more than ten pairs ; the sternal ribs are permanently cartilaginous. 5. The blow-hole is crescentic, with the concavity forwards. BEAKED WHALES 213 6. The pectoral fin is rounded, and not large. The phalanges are not numerous. 7. There is a dorsal fin, falcate in form. 8. The throat is marked by at least one pair (? as to Berardius) of gular grooves, similar to those of Baleenoptera and Pkyseter. All the Ziphioid whales present these characters. They agree with the Physeterinae in having no functional teeth in the upper jaw ; in the general form of the skull ; in the characters of the transverse processes of the dorsal vertebrae ; in the cartilaginous sternal ribs ; and in the throat grooves. But the Ziphioid whales differ from the Cachalots in the fewness of their functional teeth and in the existence of a distinct malar bone ; in the latter point they agree with the Mystacoceti. It is possible that the Ziphioids also agree to differ from other whales in a small character, which has been noticed at any rate in Hyperoodon, in Mesoplodon, and Zipkius (by Scott and Parker) ; that is in the rounded projection between the flukes of the tail. The genus MESOPLODON* consists of moderately- sized whales, 15-17 feet or so in length. Skull with mesethmoid ossified; the nasals are sunk between the upper ends of the pre-maxillae ; single pair of larger or smaller functional teeth in lower jaw, embedded in * W. H. FLOWER, "A further contribution to the knowledge of the existing Ziphioid whales, genus Mesoplodon" Trans. ZnoL Soc., x., p. 415. See also AURIVILLIUS, in BHuuig. Svenk. A cad. Handl., xi., 1887; and TURNER mjourn. Anat. Phys., 1886, p. 144. 214 A BOOK OF WHALES t mandible at or near middle. Vertebral formula : C. 7 ; D. 9 or 10; L. 10 or n ; Ca. 19 or 20-46 or 48. Atlas and axis fused, sometimes also third. Sternum of four or five pieces. Eight ribs two-headed. Phalanges: I, i. II, 6. Ill, 6. IV, 3. V, 2. The most elaborate account of the skeleton of Mesoplodon is contained in Sir W. Flower's descrip- tion of the osteology of most of the species. The skull agrees with that of Zip kins, and differs from that of Hyperoodon and Berardiiis in the thorough ossification of the mesethmoid, and its coalescence with surrounding bones to form the very solid rostrum, which in the adult has the density of ivory. The tympanic bone of this genus differs from that of Ziphius in having a well-marked groove at the pos- terior end between the lobes. In this matter Meso- plodon agrees with Berardius, and differs from Hyperoodon, which in its turn agrees with Ziphius. Ziphius and Hyperoodon are nearer in this particular to Physeter, and the two other Ziphioid genera to the dolphins. In these "beaked whales" the breadth of the base of the rostrum and the relative positions of the two foramina for the exit of the two branches of the second division of the fifth nerve offer characters, which are made use of, following Sir W. Flower, in the charac- terisation of the species of the genus. The maxillae have the characteristic ridges of the Ziphioid whales, especially in M. hectori. The nasals are sunk be- tween the extremities of the pre-maxillse. The. BEAKED WHALES 215 relations of the palatines and pterygoids differ somewhat, and are made use of to distinguish the o species HI. australis and M. densirostris. The vertebral formulae of several individuals are as follows : - - M. grayi : C. 7 ; D. 10 ; L. 1 1 ; Ca. 20 = 48. M. australis : C. 7 ; D. 9 ; L. 1 1 ; Ca. 20 = 47. M. bidens : C. 7 ; D. 10 ; L. 10 ; Ca. 19 = 46. Another indivi- dual of M. bidens : C. 7 ; D. 10; L. 9; Ca. 20-46; M. layardi : C. 7 ; D. 10 ; L. 10; Ca. 19 = 46. There are thus no specific char- acters at all obvious to be deduced from the numbers of the vertebrae. In both M. aitstralis and M. grayi the atlas and axis alone were united, the least amount of union existing in any Ziphioid whale ; and one of the skeletons was that of an adult animal. The same t £ s aj o CO C 216 A BOOK OF- WHALES amount of union has been observed in two specimens of M. bidens. In M. layardi the first three vertebrae were united, the rest free. The high spines of the dorsal and lumbar vertebrae, and the absence of a slope backwards in those vertebral spines allies the present genus to Zip kins and Hyperoodon, and distinguishes it from Berardius. Zygapophyses extend to about the sixth vertebrae (dorsal) in M. australis, further back to the tenth in M. grayi. The lumbar vertebrae are strongly carinate below. There are eleven chevron bones, judging from the presence of articular facets. The sternum has five distinct pieces in the immature M. grayi ; only four in the adult M. australis. In both there are notches between the successive ele- ments, which are naturally converted into foramina. While there is a great uncertainty about' the species of Zip kiits more is known, thanks to the studies of Sir W. Flower, concerning the species of this genus Mesoplodon. Eight species, at any rate, can be clearly recognised, mainly by the position and the characters of the teeth. These eight species, with their synonymy,* are as follows :— Mesoplodon bidens, Sowerby ;•]- (j= DelpJiimis {Heter- don} soiverbiensis, Blainville ; D. sowerbyi, Desmarest ; Delpkinorkynckus micropterns, Cuvier ; Mesoplodon sowerbiensis, van Beneden ; Micropteron bidens, Malm ; Aodon dalei, Lesson). * This synonymy only relates to the specific names. t British Miscellany, p. i. BEAKED WHALES 217 This, the first species of the genus, is Atlantic and North Sea in range. It is thus to be characterised : Rostrum broad at base ; no basirostral groove ; foramina for exit of two branches of second division of fifth nerve on a level. Tooth near hinder ed^e o of mandibular symphysis ; its apex directed forwards. This species is the only one that has ever been stranded on the shores of this country ; and not very many examples have been thus seen or acquired. Mr. Lydekker, in British Mammals, in "Allen's Naturalists' Series," records ten individuals. Of these the first is the one from which the species was originally described. It was stranded on the shores of Elginshire, and its skeleton is now in the Oxford Museum. The very last specimen, which the present writer had the pleasure of seeing in the flesh, is now at Tring in the Hon. Walter Rothschild's Museum. This whale reaches a length of from fifteen to eighteen feet. A specimen of this whale was captured at Havre in August, 1828, and lived for two days out of the water. It was offered "soaked bread and other alimentary substances"! "It emitted a low cavernous sound like the lowing of a cow." This specimen had no teeth, and was named in conse- quence Aodon. Mesoplodon curopcziis, Gervais ;* ( = D. gervaisii, Deslongchamps). Rostrum broad at base ; no * Zool. et Palaeonf. Franc., first ed., t. ii. 2i8 A BOOK OF- WHALES basirostral groove ; foramina of second division of o fifth nerve as in M. bidens. Tooth at middle of mandibular symphysis. This species is not to be regarded as certainly distinct from the last. The only point, it will be observed, in the above definition relates to the position of the teeth. Dr. Gray, however, erected it into a separate genus, Neoziphius. It is based upon a single individual found floating in the sea at the entrance of the British Channel about 1840. The skull is now in the Museum at Caen. There is really nothing more to be said about this animal. Mesoplodon densirostris , Blainville ;* (^Ziphius sechellensis, Gray). Rostrum narrow at base ; basirostral groove present ; foramina for fifth nerve one behind the other. Tooth with vertical apex, near hinder edge of mandibular symphysis. This species has been taken at the Seychelles, on the coast of South Africa, and at Lord Howe's Island. The species is based upon a skull and the skeleton of another animal. Mesoplodon grayi, Haast.t Rostrum narrow at base ; basirostral groove present ; foramina of fifth nerve one behind the other. Tooth vertical, near hinder end of jaw symphysis. * Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., 2nd ed., t. ix., p. 178. t Proc, Zool, Soc., 1876, p. 457. BEAKED WHALES 219 This whale was placed in a separate genus (Oulodon) by von Haast on account of the fact that the upper jaw is provided, as are the jaws of other Ziphioid whales, with a row, nineteen on each side, of small teeth entirely unconnected with bone, and without any traces of sockets on the bone of the jaw. It is doubtful, however, whether this character can be used to distinguish a genus since in M. bidens there are similar teeth in both jaws,* and the same may be the case with other species of the genus, although there is, according to Sir W. Flower, "no evidence of the presence of any such teeth in M, australis or M. hectori" In Mesoplodon aitstralis of Flowert (which is the same as M. kectori in part), the rostrum is narrow at the base ; basirostral groove present ; foramina of fifth nerve one behind the other. Tooth near hinder edge of symphysis. This species was founded by Sir W. Flower upon a skeleton which Dr. Hector had referred to M. hectori. It would appear from the above definition to be nearer to M. densirostris. But there are points which serve to separate it from that species. The most obvious is the fact that in M. densirostris the palatines completely surround the anterior ends of the pterygoids ; in M. australis the former lie altogether outside the latter. The occurrence of these teeth in the upper jaw is, however, denied by GRIEG, Bergens Mus. Aarbog., 1897. t Trans. Zool, Soc., x., p. 417, 220 A BOOK OR WHALES Mesoplodon layardi, Gray* (with synonyms : Callidon guntheri, Gray ; Dolichodon traversii, Gray ; Mesoplodon floweri) Haast), is provided with a rostrum, narrow at base ; basirostral grooves present ; two foramina of fifth nerve on a level. Tooth very large, near hinder edge of mandibular symphysis. This Mesoplodon is remarkable on account of the singular growth of the strap-shaped teeth. These finally grow round the jaw so as to prevent their opening to the full extent. At first this singular arrangement was naturally regarded as an abnormality, but later it was found to characterise the species, which is in this peculiar feature of its organisation comparable to the sabre-toothed tiger. It is, like the last, a southern species. Mesoplodon kectori, Gray ;f ( = Berardius arnuxi, Hector; Mesoplodon knoxi, Hector). In this species the rostrum is broad at the base ; the basirostral grooves are absent ; foramina of fifth nerve on a level. Tooth close to apex of mandible. Of this species Sir W. Flower wrote that "it does certainly present some transitional characters (between Mesoplodoii and Berardius] ; but as it is only known by the skull of a very young animal it is scarcely safe to decide its position, except provisionally." It is, of course, the apical position of the mandibular teeth that has led to its confusion with Berardius. * Free. Zuol. ..W., 1865, p. 358. t Ann. and Mag. Nat. hist. (4), viii., p. 115. JiEAKED IV HALES 221 Mesoplodon kaasti, Flower.* Rostrum narrow at base ; basirostral grooves present ; foramina of fifth nerve one behind the other. Tooth very large, near middle of jaw. This species is only known from a rostrum and a mandible. But the peculiar form (triangular with a conical point) and large size of teeth seem to mark it out. Finally, there is the species Mesoplodon stejnegeri, of True,f which has an unusually large brain case (half the length of the skull) ; no basirostral grooves, and the two foramina one behind the other. This skull, which came from Behring Straits, has no lower jaw. The genus HYPEROODON may be distinguished by the following features : — Skull with enormous maxil- lary crests (in adult males). Mesethmoid not fully ossified. A single tooth on each ramus of lower O jaw ; also numerous small teeth as Ziphius. Verte- bral formula: C. 7; D. 9; L. 9; Ca. 18 = 43. Cervicals fused into one mass, the last sometimes free. Sternum consisting of three pieces, the last of which is bifid posteriorly. In more than one feature Hyperoodon, of all Ziphioids, comes nearest to Physetcr. The great * Trans. Zool. Soc., x., p. 421. In a recent memoir upon Mesoplodon (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1893, p. 216) Mr. H. O. Forbes seeks to unite with M. grayi, Haast, Sir W. Flower's species, M. australis and M. haasti. t "Description of a New Species of Mesoplodon" etc., Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1885, p. 584. 222 A BOOK OF WHALES, maxillary crests (Fig. 29) are paralleled in Pkyseter, where, however, owing to their relative thinness, they bound, instead of diminishing through blocking up, the cavity for the spermaceti. In the vertebral column too is a striking point of likeness. The first six ribs, as in the Ziphioids, are two-headed, the capitular and tubercular attachments being in two successive vertebrae. The seventh rib, how- ever, is exactly like the tenth rib of the Cachalot. It is attached to two processes of the seventh dorsal vertebra, which nearly join each other before they receive the rib. Pkysetcr, therefore, in this particular, is more like Hypcroodon than it is to its nearest ally Kogia ; and both genera retain a trace of the arrange- ment characteristic of Inia. This genus comprises apparently but two species : one, with many aliases (e.g., H. butzkoff, H, borealis], is the northern H. rostratum ; the other, which seems to be perfectly distinct, though only known from a single water and pebble-worn skull, comes from Australian seas, and was described by Sir W. Flower as H. plamfrons. Thus, like so many other genera of Cetaceans, Hyperoodon is of very wide range.* Dr. Gray's species, " latifrons" made the type of a separate genus Lagenocetus, was undoubtedly based upon an old example of Hyperoodon rostratum. It has been shown that the "forehead" increases in squareness with the age of the animal, as the accom- * The name Hyperoodon was given to this whale (by Lacepede) on account of the numerous rough papillae upon the palate, which were erroneously regarded as teeth. PLATE XII. ,CR, FIG. 29. Skull of Hyperoodon. (From D. Gray.) \Tofacepage 222. BEAKED WHALES 223 panying figures derived from Captain Gray's paper on the whale show. It is interesting to note that it is the males which show this peculiar form ; the females nearly always* remain in the condition of young males. The square appearance of the head in front is produced by an increase in thickness of the crests of the maxilla:;, which this whale has in common with JBerardius, only more developed — even in the young. Hyperoodon rostratum, M tiller, f This whale is a common northern species, and has been often recorded on our own coasts. The first recorded occurrence was at Maldon in Essex, in 1717. j It varies in colour from black in the young to light brown in the old animals. Very old animals turn a pale yellowish with white about them. The under surface is always greyish white. It will be noted that this change of colour is very similar to that which takes place in Beluga. The length seems to vary between twenty and thirty feet ; but Hunter described a skull (since missing) which apparently belonged to a still larger specimen "thirty or forty feet long." Captain Gray noted that the tail of this whale, instead of being notched in the centre as is common * Sir W. H. FLOWER " On the Whales of the Genus Hyperoodon? Proc. Zool. Soc., 1882, p. 722. D. GRAY, " Notes on the Characters and Habits of the Bottlenose Whale," ib., p. 726, and see p. 227. t O. F. MULLER, in his Zool. Dan. Prodromus, 1776, p. 7, first gave the specific name ; he called the whale Balcena rostrata. t TURNER, " On the occurrence of the Bottlenosed Whale, etc," Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edin., ix., p. 25. 224 A BOOK OF WHALES among whales, was rounded, as is shown in the accompanying figure. (Fig. 30.) This species is gregarious, going about in herds of from four to ten, rarely more, though Captain Gray has recorded a herd of fifteen. The animal is very unsuspicious, owing no doubt to the fact that it has been until of late but little hunted ; the growing scarcity of the Right whale has led to its being more actively pursued, and it has been proved that the oil derivable from the animal differs but little from that produced by the Right whale. Another habit of this whale has proved its de- struction ; a herd will never leave a wounded comrade. Directly their companion is dead they move away, but not until. They are extremely vigorous and hard to kill ; a " Bottlenose " can not merely leap out of the water — that is a capability shared by many whales -but it always takes the water on returning to it head first, and can move its head while out of the water. When harpooned this species has been known to stay under for two hours. The young when born seem to be about ten feet long ; at least a full-grown foetus of this size was cut out of a mother twenty- nine feet long. It is rather an unusual fact, but it is the case- according to M. Bouvier* — that in this species of whale the females are more numerous f than the males. * In Ann. des Sci. Nat. (7), xiii., p. 259. t This statement is in direct conflict with that of Captain Gray, who found that out of 203 individuals killed in a single season "ninety-six were full-grown males, fifty-six cows, and fifty-one younger males." FIG. 30. Outlines of HyperooJon. (After D. Gray.) a a, Adult male. b-d, Younger males. e, Adult female. BEAKED WHALES 227 The same writer, in describing a specimen of this species, found that the massive forehead is not a character of the male only ; M. Bouvier's example was a female, and had a well-developed pair of maxillary crests like those figured on p. 223 of the adult male. It does not appear to be certain whether this specimen is to be relegated to the category of hens with cock's combs, and other instances of the old female occasionally taking on the characters of the male, or not. Another sexual difference, according to Fischer, is in the length of the pectoral fin ; in the male it is -}, and in the female T^ of the body length. The Greenlandish name of this whale, "Anarnak," expresses in a naive way the exceedingly purga- tive character of the fat of the Hyperoodon. But although the fat has this unpleasant effect, the flesh, according to M. Bouvier, is eatable if rather in- sipid. As is the case with other Ziphioid whales, Hyper- oodon rostratum has grooves upon the throat. But there is some dispute as to the number of these. One pair is the usual allowance, but Kiikenthal found four in embryos studied by him. In an example of twenty feet long Turner found these grooves to measure nineteen inches. Another external character of importance is the presence or absence of hairs on the snout. Kiikenthal saw what he believed to be indications of four hairs on each side ; but a histolo- gical study did not give definite results. In connection with the fact that a distinct voice is possessed by Ziphioid whales, I may call attention 228 A BOOK OF WHALES to an observation by the Rev. G. Beardsworth* that an example of Hyperoodon "sobbed." The third genus of this family, BERARDIUS, may be thus defined : — Skull very symmetrical ; nasals massive, forming its vertex ; maxillae with a rugose eminence ; mesethmoid only partially ossified. Teeth two on each side of lower jaw, pointed with apices directed forward. Vertebral formula : C. 7 ; D. 10 ; L. 12 ; Ca. 19 = 48 ; first three cervicals fused. Sternum of five pieces. Eight ribs two-headed. As this genus consists of but one species, which has been thoroughly studied, the main features in its description will be considered under the description of the species instead of here. It must be observed, however, that we do not at present know whether the rudimentary teeth present in the jaws of Mesoplodon are also present in Berardius. Attention should also be directed to the fact that a specimen in the Welling- ton Museum has but one tooth on each side of each mandible, hence it is clearly rash to attempt to define the Ziphioid whales by the characters of their teeth alone. Berardius arnouxi, Duvernoy.t As is unfortu- nately the case with other whales, but little is known of the appearance and habits of this the largest of the Ziphioids. Indeed, there are but three records * Proc. Zool. Soc., 1860, p. 373. t Ann. Sci. Nat., 1851, p. 52. BEAKED WHALES 229 of its occurrence, and one of these records cannot be regarded as applying without doubt to Berardius. The fullest account of its external appearance is given by Sir Julius von Haast. The creature reaches a length of thirty to thirty- two feet, the specimen examined by Haast being thirty feet six inches in total length. Its colour is described by him as of a velvety black, with the exception of the lower portion of the belly, which had a greyish tinge. This agrees exactly with the account of the first specimen, upon the examination of whose skull Duvernoy based the genus Berardius. That individual, however, was thirty-two feet in lenoth. It has not been noticed whether the O longitudinal throat plaits present in other Ziphioid whales also exist in the species under discussion. This whale is described as bellowing like a bull. It will be remembered that Mesoplodon bidens was stated to low like a cow. But the most remarkable observa- tion as to its economy was made by the wife of the fisherman who discovered the example referred to by Haast. " She told her husband that each time he put the stick into the whale's mouth she could see several large teeth in front of its lower jaw, which, however, were not observed by anybody else, and the existence of which was only revealed when the skull was cleaned, when in front of the lower jaw two large triangular and movable teeth on each side became o exposed. It thus seems that the Ziphioid whales, when defenclino- themselves from their enemies, or o attacking their prey, have the power to protrude these 230 A BOOK OF WHALES four teeth at will." This extraordinary statement is supported by an anatomical fact discovered by Dr. Hector in another example of this species. He found that the teeth were embedded "in a tough cartilaginous sac, which adheres loosely in the socket of the jaw, and is moved by a series of muscular bundles that elevate or depress it." Sir W. Flower justly remarks that these facts "accord so little with anything hitherto known in mammalian anatomy that further observations on the subject are extremely desirable." Still, there is the statement of the woman, who would not be either prejudiced or informed, in the matter upon which her testimony is given. The whale feeds upon cuttlefish. A specimen twenty-seven feet long produced about 240 gallons of oil, and a fair amount of spermaceti. As there is but a single known species of this genus Berardius, the osteological characters will be described under the present heading more in detail than was thought requisite to define the genus. These details are naturally taken from Sir W. Flower's memoir upon the whale, but I have myself verified most of them upon the actual skeleton in the Royal College of Surgeons Museum. A striking peculiarity of this whale is the small size of the head compared to the length of the verte- bral column, and the large size of the individual vertebrae, a feature which is, however, also very noticeable in Mesoplodon. These proportions are curiously suggestive of some of the extinct aquatic Mosasaurians, as well as of some of the Dinosaurs. BEAKED WHALES 231 In this respect Berardius is at the opposite pole to the Greenland whale, where the head is so enormous as compared with the length of the vertebral column. The skull of Berardius is remarkably symmetrical for a toothed whale, as indeed is that of Mesoplodon, the nasals standing up erect, and not sunk from the vertex of the skull. The maxillae are furnished with a strong oval tuberosity like those of Hyperoodon, but not so strongly developed. Since in Hyperoodon those convexities increase in the males from youth to old age, it may be that the skeleton of Berardius which Sir .W. Flower has so carefully described is of a female or a young male.* That it is not a fully adult example is shown by the large persistence of the epiphyses, not only in the vertebral column but else- where. The mesethmoid plate is short comparatively speaking ; that is to say, compared with what we find in Mesoplodon. The rami of the mandible are not ankylosed together. The vertebral column has the following formula : C. 7 ; D. 10 ; L. 12; Ca. 19 = 48. Of the cervical vertebrae the atlas, axis, and the third vertebra are united by their bodies. The first two are also united by their neural arches. The remaining vertebrae are quite separate. Sir W. Flower observes that apart from the fusion between these vertebrae, they are much like those of the Beluga (Delphinapterus}. The dorsal and lumbar vertebrae, especially the lumbar, contrast greatly with those of Mesoplodon by reason of the shortness and * " On the Recent Ziphioid Whales, with a description of the Skeleton of Berardius arnoitxi? Trans. Zool. Sac., viii., p. 203. 232 A BOOK OF- WHALES slenderness of the neural spines, as well as their greater inclination backwards. Of the ten dorsal vertebrae zygapophyses are only developed until between the eighth and ninth ; there are none between the ninth and tenth. The lumbar vertebrae have their transverse processes (continuous with the lower transverse processes of the ninth and tenth dorsals, which bear the last two ribs) in a perfectly straight line from beginning to end of the series as in Meso- plodon. The lumbar vertebras are distinctly keeled on the under surface. The first of the nineteen caudal vertebra is to be distinguished from the last of the lumbar series not only by the pair of facets on the hinder lower surface of the centrum for the chevron bones, but also by the absence of the keel spoken of as characteristic of the lumbars. There appear to be nine chevron bones. Of the ten pairs of ribs the first articulates with the transverse process of the first dorsal vertebrae, and with the centrum of the last cervical. As in most other Ziphioids (cf., however, Hyperoodon) there is a sudden break at the end of the series of ribs ; the ninth and tenth have only the capitular head, which is attached to a lower transverse process springing from the centrum of the vertebrae, and not existing, even in rudiment, in the vertebrae in front The sternum consists of five elements not connected by bone. Between the first four of these are spacious foramina in the dried skeleton, the edges of which are bevelled and smooth, "so that it does not appear that ossification would have advanced further in this BEAKED IVHALES 233 direction if the animal had lived to be older." There appear to be six pairs of cartilaginous sternal ribs. In the manus the scaphoid and the lunar are united, though a groove remains to mark their original dis- tinctness. The cuneiform is partly united with the unciform ; the magnum and the trapezoid are com- pletely united. So far as is known the pelvis consists of only one small bone, 5 '8 inches in length. Berardius arnouxi is one of the few whales with a really limited distribution. It has only been taken, so far, on the shores of New Zealand. Malm, however,* has given some account of a fragmentary skull, to which the name B. veg c ^ _>> rt rt 0 t/) > 2 2 •- x; Ti u 1 oi j< u j= w> rQ S 3 rt rt 6 11 "a. c £ « = 2 i T3 K C C ^ O^O ^~ c 5 £ ^ ^ •J3 £ « S: tn ,2 x Ci >2 t/3 u< = ~ < :£ •:? T 3 | -i -5 o 2 | C 5 O O J5 ii ^p JD U S 2 : Q & H £ U] 6 o^§ - XI ^ ' — ^ r TT '•Q > O ^^-*, 6 --- 6 --- 6 '-^ 6 ^ 6 — - ^j s ?o J ""^ 10 LO N ** -^T3 "~ " rt r^ jj r^ ^r *X ^ ^O 1J , • QJ (-H ^|B|0 B|| *"O •* *"O ^ *°w 0 M" M g T? 4 ^ 6 •* ^ -^ ^ ^ ^ri^rt- 2,^5, O) • — • u 50 "^ 6 *"" _ ^ ~ ^ f ~ J3 rox; "" •^j: M ,s N ^3 — N JZ ^ ^ ro " rT •u D D 0) V 'o bfi V £ 1u "S 'S "S f Ctf ? r<1 •-. O y> t- vo O 10 vO O o IO 0 LO zl ^ ^ v^" ^ ^) r^. vO "O - OO IO LO en in r. "71 "3 T3 T3 "^U T3 *"O ^ ^ ^ T3 S S (5 S S c -ii-i O JO O o o c o o 0 O X z K Z Z ^ ^ _ V 3 1 f. o ^ ••— i H 10 r^ vo 10 cj * ro M (N \O LO -t- 10 i- — VO r T r') ., M 2" ^? ° S ">;« u Uv 0 III 1 - VO O M O t^ r 1 ' o o w 10 \o 7 7 7 S "5 7 N O CO _ § CT> °" a, 0 M M N T CO i" M Ol CO "-" >~< .— J N ^""^ 3 * C *^ V o <-> 3; ^ Q "^ 5 c? ^ £ J i^ l>3 K Q K, C- I1 f -a « ^ 1 i i § "* ?j Kt* 5; \j s If ^ ^ ^ , s ^ ^ ^ ^ • 1 3 ll ^ -1 -§1 S" ^* »* s s •* ^ i - i 3 o o «q & 3 .s Klonodon 244 A BOOK OF WHALES Both Sir W. Flower and Mr. True concur in allow- ing but one species of White whale, which will therefore have the following synonymy :— Delphinapterus leucas, Pallas ; Delphinaptcrus be- luga, Lacepede ; Delphinus albicans, Fabricius ; Beluga catodon, Gray ; Catodon sibbaldii, Fleming ; Beluga borealis, Lesson ; DelpJnnus canadensis, Desmarest ; D. kingii, Gray ; B. rhino don, Cope ; B. declivis, Cope ; B. angustata, Cope ; B. concreta, Cope. The White whale is entirely northern in range. The alleged species D. kingii was asserted to come from the Australian shores, but the locality requires confirmation. It is so exclusively arctic in range that there are but few certain records of the occur- rence of this species on the shores of England, though several specimens have been recorded from Scotland, and the species occurs off the eastern coasts of North America. It reaches a length of 16 to 20 feet. This whale is remarkable for its white colour (its name, Beluga, from the Russian, signifies white), which is, however, only characteristic of the full- grown animals. The young is blackish, the older whale is mottled, and finally a yellowish hue is arrived at, which is gradually blanched to pure white. Though the whale is marine it will ascend rivers, mainly, it is said, in pursuit of salmon. It has been said to ascend the Yukon river for a distance of seven hundred miles. The name Delphinapterus, applied to this whale, signifies the peculiarity of the absence of the dorsal DOLPHINS 245 fin, in which it resembles its undoubted ally the Narwhal and the more distant N coiner is. It is a singular fact that these whales, unlike many Cetacea, have a distinct voice ; and their vocal capabilities have earned for them the name of " Sea Canary." The Beluga lives in companies. They feed upon fish, Cephalopods and Crustacea ; these they pursue at great depths in the ocean, It is said that the sand which is sometimes found in the stomach is used as ballast to enable the creature to remain below water with greater facility ; but, as already mentioned in the case of the Balcenoptera rostrata, it seems much more likely that the sand is engulphecl accidentally along with their prey. The various aliases of the one polar White whale are partly due to the occasional fusion of the cervical vertebrae, the presence of an additional rib, and a few other points, which are really within the limits of individual variation. The Beluga has a very distinct neck — a rarity among whales, but a character of Platanista and Inia, to which genera indeed the freedom from each other of the cervical vertebrae give it an additional re- semblance. A curious error, but made in good faith, was perpetrated in i 748 with regard to the systematic position of this "white fish." Anderson described a specimen which had lost the teeth of the upper jaw, and was in consequence only dentate below, as a white Cachalot. Lacepede added, apparently solely for the sake of a better filled page : " On ne peut guere clouter que ce cetacee ne fournisse de 1'adipocire ; 246 A BOOK OF -WHALES et peut-etre donne-t-il aussi de 1'ambre-gris." It seems a belated procedure to attack Lacepede, but he has acquired so big a reputation as an historian of the Cetacea that it is perhaps permissible to quote M. Fischer's remark, that " the scientific element is not conspicuous in his book." The Narwhal, genus MONODON, is externally very unlike the last genus, though they possess many structural points in common ; it has but one tooth (rarely two) in maxilla, which has the form of a long tusk ; in female this is rudimentary. Vertebrae: C. 7 ; D. n ; L. 6 ; Ca. 26 = 50. Eight ribs, two-headed ; four reach the sternum. Pterygoids as in Delpkinapterus. No dorsal fin. No hairs. Phalanges: I, 2. 11,6. Ill, 5. IV, 3. V, 3 (embryo 2, 9, 7, 5> 4)- This genus is obviously characterised by the singular spirally-twisted "tusk" of the male, which is simply an abnormally enlarged maxillary tooth. Occasionally two teeth are fully developed, one in each jaw ; there is a skeleton in the British Museum which shows this peculiarity. That skeleton has also a small twelfth rib in addition to the normal eleven. Of these ribs the first eight are-double headed ; the same is the case in the Beluga. And, as also in the last - mentioned genus, four sternal ribs exist. Though the Narwhal has no dorsal fin there is a raised ridge along the back an inch in height. DOLPHINS 247 There is but one species : Monodon monoceros, Linnaeus.* M. microcephalies i Desmarest ; M. andersonianus, Id. ; Namvhalus vulgarisy Lacepede ; Tachynices megacephalus, Brookes, are some of the synonyms which really all refer to the one species. The Narwhal or Sea Unicorn — "mighty Monoceros with immeasured tayles " — is a whale familiar to every- body, at least by name and appearance, as depicted in pictures. The creature grows to a length of about fifteen feet ; such an individual would have a " horn " of some seven feet. But the length, as with other whales, has been grossly exaggerated (sixty feet !). The colour is darker above, paler below, both tints speckled in a leopardine fashion. But old animals seem to lose this character, and to become quite white. It is a purely arctic animal, and Mr. Lydekker records only three examples thrown up on our shores, f Another, however, has been since recorded by Mr. Christy.J The tusk of the Narwhal, van Beneden tells us, was at first — and after all naturally — thought to belong to a terrestrial creature ; it is from this idea that the notion of the unicorn with the form of a horse has doubtless sprung. So lately as 1655, however, Wormius announced the real nature of this apparent freak of nature. The use of the horn or tusk to its possessor has been much discussed. As it is a sexual * Syst. Nat., I2th ed., 1766, p. 105 (of vol. i.). t British Mammals, in Allen's Naturalists' Library. $ Trans. Norfolk Soc., vi., p. 204. 248 A BOOK O^ WHALES character, the most obvious use would seem to be in the battles of the males with the toothless females. Scoresby observed that shoals of these animals often consisted entirely of males ; these animals played with their horns, " crossing them with each other as in fencing." This is of course comparable to the use of other weapons in play by other animals, such as the teeth of young dogs, the claws of the cat, etc., etc. Another suggestion is that the long and strong weapon is useful for the purposes of breaking the thick ice of the polar regions so that the whale can rise and breathe. A third suggestion is also due to Scoresby. He captured and dissected a Narwhal which had in its stomach, besides beaks of cuttlefish, so common a food of whales, a large skate. Now an active skate, which moreover had a diameter greater than that of the whale's mouth, could hardly, thought Scoresby, have been caught alive by its devourer. He suggests indeed that with the tusk the skate was first pierced and killed, and then swallowed. An elaboration of this story is to be found in writings earlier than the two books of Scoresby. Lacepede, quoting from others, credits the Narwhal with a more ingenious use of the tusk. The animal threads its prey upon the tusk, and gradually works it down like a conjurer with a ball upon a string, until the fish can be seized with its lips and swallowed. These three views are presented for the consideration of the reader. As to uses with which their possessor has no concern, the tusk was employed in Europe in the past DOLPHINS 249 and in China to-day as a drug. At Rosenberg is a throne entirely made of those tusks, and Captain Scoresby (Mr. R. Brown tells us*) had a bed made from the same material. The genus PHOCsENA (true porpoises) have the teeth sixteen to twenty-six in number ; their crowns compressed, lobed. Pterygoids slightly developed and far apart ; pre-maxillae with bosses in front of nares. Vertebrae : 64-98 in number. Phalanges : I, 2-3. II, 7-10. Ill, 6-8. IV, 3-5. V, 1-3. Dorsal fin with a row of tubercles along its posterior margin. Of well-established species there would seem to be three, which are the following : — o Phocccna comnmnis, Lesson, f The Common Por- poise may be thus distinguished from other members of the genus Phoccena : — Length, ^\ feet. No beak. Dorsal fin triangular, anterior margin straight. Pectoral fins ovate. Teeth, 26. Vertebrae : C. / ; D. 12, 13, 14; L. 14, 15; Ca. 30-33 = 64-68. First six cervicals fused. Young with 2-4 hairs. The common porpoise is a northern form, being found in both Atlantic and Pacific. It reaches a length of five to six feet and is generally blackish, but whiter on the belly. The name of this dolphin has been variously given as Porkpisce, Porpice, Porpesse, * "Cetaceans of the Greenland Seas," Proc. Zool. Soc., 1868, p. 554. t Man. Mainm., 1827, p. 413. 250 A BOOK OF~ WHALES Porpus, and Porpoise — the meaning of the word being especially plain from the first instance ; it is of course pig-fish, a suggestion of the Ungulate affinities of whales which has been commended by naturalists. It is a gregarious whale and often ascends rivers -it has been met with in the Seine at Paris, for example ; it is the commonest species of our seas. The porpoise was once esteemed a delicacy in this country, as are other Cetaceans in other lands at the present day. It formed a Royal dish even so recently as the times of Henry VIII. The sauce recom- mended by Dr. Caius for this "fish" was made of crumbs of fine bread, vinegar, and sugar. Considered to be a fish, it was allowed to be eaten on fast- days ! The porpoise, like the stormy petrel, has had the reputation of presaging foul weather. Willsford (I quote from Bacon), in Nature s Secrets, remarks : " Porpoises, or Sea Hogs, when observed to sport and chase one another about ships, expect then some stormy weather." To the same effect writes Ravens- croft in Canterbury Guests, or a Bargain Broke: " My heart begins to leap and play like a Porpoice before a storm." The French word " Marsouin " applied to the porpoise is said to be derived from a corruption of the German " Meerschwein." But Scaliger's derivation from "marinum suem " seems to be more likely. Pkocana tuberculifera was founded by Dr. Gray upon an example which was exhibited for a short time DOLPHINS 251 in the Zoological Society's garden. In this individual the doctor noticed the spiny margin to the fin, which has frequently escaped notice in other porpoises, and hence thought that there were two species, one with and one without these spines. It is held by Mr. True that P. brachycium, P. vomerina, and P. lineata (all named by the late Professor Cope) are at most varieties of the common porpoise. But Phoccena spinipinnis of Burmeister* is distinct. It has a length of 5 feet 4 inches. Slight beak. Dorsal fin narrow, low, with concave anterior margin. Pectoral fins falcate. End of body ridged above and below. Teeth, 16. This porpoise seems to be quite distinct. The specimen upon which the description of Burmeister was based was captured near the mouth of the Rio de la Plata. It is entirely black. But the most remarkable character, which distinguishes it from P. communis, and at the same time allies it to the next species, is the existence of a long, low ridge on both sides of the body near to the tail. This seems to be a survival of the low dorsal ridge of the embryo. (See p. 14.) And the existence of the two ridges gives some colour to older assertions that whales may possess two dorsal fins and an anal fin like the fish. The tubercles on the fin (as well as the peculiar shape of the latter) distinguish the species. They are more numerous and in more rows, on the back as well as on the fin itself. * Proc. Zool. Sac., 1865, p. 228. 252 A BOOK OP WHALES Phoccena dallii, True,^ is thus defined: Length, 6 feet. No beak. Dorsal fin high and falcate. Pectorals oval. Body ridged above and below at end. Teeth, 23-27. Vertebrae: C. 7; D. 14, 15; L. 27 ; Ca. 49 = 97 or 98. The most salient difference of this from P. communis is the extraordinarily long vertebral column formed mainly by the large development of the lumbar region. All the cervicals are united. o It is a Pacific species. The genus NEOMERIS is to be characterised by the absence of a dorsal fin and the number of teeth, 18-26. The skull characters are as in Phoccena. Vertebrae D. 13; L. 12; C. 29 = 63. This genus has been already referred to on account of the rows of tubercles which stud the back in the place of the absent dorsal fin. It is a genus which is barely to be distinguished from Phoc&na according to most authorities. Of the cervical vertebrae the last five are free. Seven ribs are two-headed. The sternum is short and broad and has four pairs of ribs attached to it. There is but one species, Neomeris phocanoides, Cuvier.] It is unnecessary to give a definition of this species, as the principal characters have been already given in the description of the genus. Its colour is entirely black, save for a purplish red patch on the upper * Proc. U.S. Nat. Mits., viii., 1885, p. 95. t Rcgne Aniin., 2nd ed., 1829, p. 291. DOLPHINS 253 lip and one on the throat. This porpoise is about four feet long, and inhabits the seas of India, Cape of Good Hope, and Japan. Mr. True thinks that a species, noted merely from a native drawing and described as Delpkinap- terus mo lagan by Sir Richard Owen, is the same. " Mola°ran ' is of course a native name for the o porpoise. Neomeris knrrachiensis, Murray,* is but a synonym. Mr. Murray, the describer of this last, remarks that it has eighteen teeth on each side of each jaw, besides two or three "which were scarcely visible through the gums, and situated out of the line of the other teeth in front of the jaws. In shape these teeth are quite unlike the rest, being conical instead of flattened or compressed." May these possibly be compared to the rudimentary teeth of Ziphioids ? In the stomach of this whale prawns of the genus Pencils were found. The orenus DELPHINUS has the teeth small and Q numerous, 47-65 in number. Vertebrae : C. 7 ; D. 14 (15); L. 21 (22); Ca. 30 (32) = 73 or 76. Atlas and axis fused, the rest free. Palatal border of max- illaries deeply groved. Phalanges: I, 2 or 3. II, S or 9. Ill, 5-7. IV, 2-4. V, i or 2. f Fins falcate. Beak distinct and long. This genus, which embraces not more than three * Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (5), xiii., 1884, p. 351. t In the embryo of D. delphis digit II may have as many as 12, digit III as many as 9, phalanges. 254 A BOOK OF WHALES • ascertained species, may be termed the true dolphins. They have a long beak, and are to be distinguished from all other Delphinidae by the deep grooves on the palatal surface of the maxillaries, producing thus a separation between the alveolar border and a raised median ridge. Though there are not more than three ascertained species (according to Mr. True), an immense number of names have been given. The Common Dolphin, Delphinus delphis, appears to be identical with animals that have received the following names : D. major, D. fulvofasciatus^ D. forsteri, D, janira, D. pomeegra, D. bairdii, D. moorei, D. walkeri, D. novae-zelandiae, D. albimanus, D. marginatus, D. fuse us, D. souverbiamis, D. varie- gatus, D. balteatus, D. algerienis, D. mosckatus. This lengthy list is the result of giving a new name to a dolphin captured or observed in a fresh locality. We have simply to do with a Cetacean of exceedingly wide range, or as Lacepede — who delighted more in symmetrical sentences than in a plain record of cold fact — observed: "It is met with in the favourable climes of the temperate zones, under the burning firmament of the equatorial seas, and in the horrible valleys which separate the enormous mountains of ice which time builds upon the surface of the polar ocean as so many funeral monuments to Nature who is there expiring " ! * * Goldsmith was not so far wrong in all probability in asserting that the Mediterranean dolphin was also to be found in the Red Sea, though his actual attempt at proof may have been shaky. Ul H II C s""' Q DOLPHINS 255 Delphinus delpkis, Linnaeus.* Length, 7 feet 5 in. Form slender. Forehead sloping gradually. Dorsal fin narrow. Teeth, 46-50. (Fig. 32.) This is the "Dolphin" par excellence, the dolphin of the ancients. It is common, among other places, in the Mediterranean ; hence its frequent observation. But — it is perhaps hardly necessary to mention the fact — it has been often confounded with the fish Coryphesna ; hence the legends as to its dying colours and to many of its more purely fish-like attributes. On the other hand, regarding it as a fish, the ancients were impressed by its unfish-like intelligence. Upon this confusion were doubtless based the legend of Arion and the Dolphin and other similar stories. Scaliger speaks of it as " nobilissimus Cetaceorum." As a matter of fact the colours of this animal are unusually variegated for a Cetacean, and liable to much variation (hence the multitude of "species"). The best figure illustrating these hues is contained in a memoir by Sir William Flower, f The usual black of the dorsal and white of the ventral surface is supplemented by two lateral areas of a fulvous or greyish tinge ; a black or greenish band extends from the lower jaw to the base of the pectoral fin ; there is a ring of black round the eye ; one or two bands of greyish or greenish traverse the light colour of the lower part of the sides, j * Syst. Nat., loth ed., p. 77. t Trans. Zoo/. Soc., vol. xi., p. I. + Several colour variations are figured by Fischer, Act. Soc. Linn. Bordeaux, 1881, 256 A BOOK OR WHALES • The sharply marked-off "beak" of the dolphin (which it shares of course with many other Del- phinidae) has given rise to such vernacular names as " Bee d'Oie," and the form of the head often re- peated in ancient boats shows that perhaps a hint as to the proper form of a boat was derived from this swift creature. The ancients appear to have confused, to some extent, dolphins and sharks, for they speak of the mouth of the former being ventral in position, and say that the animal is obliged to turn upon its back before it can swallow its prey. Pliny, who always mixed up fact and fiction in one inextricable tangle, added to this imaginary portrait the further detail that the dolphin was armed with a long and spiny fin, with which it could successfully attack other creatures — possibly a confusion with the long and narrow dorsal fin of Orca. Its movements are rapid. It has been called "the arrow of the sea," and a proverb has emphasised this : Of those who desire something impossible it is said that they wish to catch a dolphin by the tail. The curved form in which the conventional dolphin of heraldry is ex- hibited is an indication of the frequency with which this Cetacean will leap out of the water. Under these circumstances the body is naturally arched. On coins, medals, anr1 coats-of-arms of Mediterranean countries and cities the dolphin takes the place that the Biscayan whale does along the northern shores of Spain. A dolphin forms the arms of the eldest son of the King of France, who was styled in con- sequence " Dauphin." This seems to be a curious DOLPHINS 257 reversal of the "Canting Crest." The Dauphin took his style from the arms of Dauphine* ; in other cases (e.g., Luces = pike, the Luceys) the arms were from the name of the individual. So many tales dating from antiquity have been told concerning the intelligence and usefulness to man of the dolphin, that the following modern one may be not without interest : — "In Moreton Bay," relates Mr. Fairholm,* "the natives use to aid the men in the capture of ' Mullet,' a kind of ' Porpoise.' f When a shoal of the fish comes into the bay the natives, with their spears, make a peculiar splashing in the water. Whether the porpoises really understand this as a signal, or think it is the fish, it is difficult to determine ; but the result is always the same. They at once come in towards, driving the mullet before them." The relator of this incident thinks that the whales really understand and assist. The dolphin when born is one of those species which have a few hairs ; 5-7 have been counted on each side, forming the "moustache." Delphimis longirostris, Cuvier,| may be a distinct form. It is thus defined : Teeth, 58-65. Rostrum very elongated, about 67^9 per cent, of whole length of skull. This species is only to be defined by the above * Proc. ZooL Soc., 1856, p. 353. f No genus or species is given. 1 Regne Anini., 2nd ed., 1829, p. 288, 258 A BOOK OF WHALES characters, and its external characters are unknown. It is therefore not very satisfactory, but is retained in deference to Mr. True's researches. It may be, thinks Mr. True, identical with Gray's Delpkinus capensis. It comes from Malabar. The third and last species, Delphinns roseiventris, Wagner,^ is in length barely four feet. Form stout. Forehead abruptly sloping. Beak long. Dorsal fin broad. Teeth, 48.! The characteristic feature of this species, whence it derives its name, is the rosy ventral surface, more usual in fresh-water dolphins ; the back is black or dark grey. It is a native of the Molucca seas and of Torres Straits. Gray placed this species in the genus Steno because it had not a grooved palate. But this appears to be wrong. The genus PRODELPHINUS is carefully to be dis- tinguished from Delphiims. It has a distinct beak ; dorsal and pectoral fins falcate. Vertebrae : C. 7 ; D. 14 (15); L. 22 (19, 21); Ca. 29-38-69-81. Pterygoids in contact. Phalanges: I, 2. II, 9. Ill, 7. IV, 3. V, i. Of this genus Mr. True remarks: — "The chief character which has been brought forward as * SCHREBER'S Saiigeth., PL ccclx., fig. i (fide TRUE). t The description is derived not from Wagner, but from the Voyage tie PAstrola.be, DOLPHINS 259 separating it from Delphinus is a negative one— the absence of deep lateral palatine grooves." It also comes near. to Tursio ; the main features here which distinguish the two genera are the fewer teeth and o o more numerous vertebrae. The three orenera are O quite close together. Some twenty-three species have been assigned to this genus ; but these may be reduced, according to Mr. True, to eio-ht. It is o o pretty well universally distributed. There seems to be nothino- of interest to record in the habits of o these dolphins. Prodelphinus plagiodon, Cope,* is seven feet in length. Dorsal fin falcate. Colour spotted. Teeth, 37. Vertebrae, 69, of which 14 dorsal. This dolphin comes from the Atlantic coasts of North America and from the Gulf of Mexico. Prodelphinus malayanus, Lesson, f Length about seven feet. Colour uniform ashy. Teeth, 39. There is so little either to identify with the genus Prodelphinus^ or to differentiate it as a species (the skull was not described by the original describer of the species but by Schlegel), that it is with great hesitation that it is here included. It is an East Indian species. * P. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1866, p. 296. t Voy. de la Coquille, vol. i., 1826, p. 184. 260 A BOOK OF WHILES Prodelphinus attemiatus, Gray. * Colour dark above, ashy grey below. Teeth, 35-44. Vertebrae, 8 1, of which 15 dorsal. The very large number of vertebrae distinguish this species so far as is known. It appears to be identical with the following three species : Delphinus pseudo- delphis, Wiegmann ; Steno capensis, Gray ; Clyiuene punctata, Id. It is widely distributed : Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope, Bay of Bengal, North Atlantic. Prodelphinus cceruleo-albus, Meyen,t has the dorsal fins not deeply emarginate. Fourteen dorsal vertebrae. Teeth, 50. Hab., South America. This dolphin has the lateral strip which is found in many of the species of Prodelphinus. Prodelphinus euphrosyne, Gray \ (with probable synonyms : D. styx, Gray ; D. tethyos, Gervais ; D. marginatus, Duvernoy ; Tursio dorcides, Gray ; Clymene dorides, Gray ; Clymenia euphrosynoides, Id.) has a length about 8 feet. Dorsal fin high and falcate ; pectoral fins small. Vertebrae, 76 ; 15 dorsals. Teeth, 45. Like the preceding species this has a long, narrow, * ZooL " 'Erebus" and '" Terror? 1846, p. 44. t Nova Acta Nat.-Ciiriosorum, 1833, xvi., p. 609. % ZooL "Erebus" and '" Terror? 1846, p. 40. DOLPHINS 261 black stripe proceeding from the eye to the vent, with a branch given off to the pectoral fin and another behind it. Hab., Europe to South Africa. Prodelphinus lateralis, Peale. * This species, of which the name was altered to Lagenorhynchus in the second edition of the Mammalia of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, may be thus defined from the imperfect existing knowledge of it : — Length, 7 ft. 6 in. ; form stout ; snout small. Teeth, 41. Hab., Pacific ; lat. 13°, long. 161°. It seems to be mainly the lateral black line which justifies the inclusion of this species in the present genus, for its cranial characters are not known. Of Prodelphinus frcenatus, F. Cuvier,f not a great deal is to be said. It is in length up to six feet. Teeth, 38. Vertebrae, 70 ; 14 dorsals. Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The following reputed species seem to be in all probability synonyms : — D. frontalis, Dussumier ; D. dor is, Gray ; D. clymene, Gray ; Clymenia normalis, Gray. D. a lope, Gray ; D. microps, Gray ; D. stenorhynchiis^ Gray, are probably not allied species, but merely synonyms. The only two of the names given in the list of synonyms which applies to anything more than a * Mamm. U.S. Explor. Exped., 1st ed., 1848, p. 35. t Mammalogie^ t. iv. 262 A BOOK OF WHALES skull is D. front alis and D. frccnatus, which has the characteristic dark band from the angle of mouth to pectoral limb. Prodelphinus longirostris, Gray/x' Length, nearly 7 feet. Vertebrae, 73 ; 14 dorsals. Teeth, 52. Palate with traces of lateral groove (cf. Delphinus). Rostrum very long. Japan, Malabar, Cape, Coast of Brazil, Cape Horn, Galapagos, Australia. Genus LAGENORHYNCHUS. This genus may be defined in the following terms : — Head with short, not very distinct, beak. Dorsal and pectoral fins falcate. Teeth small, 22-45 m number on each jaw. Vertebrae, 73-92. Pterygoid bones in contact or separate. Rostrum not exceeding, or scarcely exceeding, length of cranium. This genus is another to which quite a large number of species have been referred. But a number of them are barely definable, and it is a difficult — at present perhaps impossible— task to discriminate them with accuracy. I give some description here of nearly all the species that are allowed by True, a number — be it observed — in excess of the probable species of Sir William Flower's enumeration. In addition to the features of the genus mentioned in its definition, Lagenorhynchus is characterised by the length of the neural and transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae. * Spidlegia Zool., 1828, p. i. UJ 3 2 I I CO O bOLPHINS 263 Mr. True also comments upon the "presence of an area of bright colour rather hiq-h up on the side o o i between the dorsal fin and the flukes " as a mark of Lagenorkynckus. It is, according to the last-mentioned observer, nearest to Prodelpkinus (Clymenia}. The first species of the genus Lageiwrhynchus obscurus, Gray* (Fig. 33), has the external form as in acutus, but beak not distinctly marked off. Teeth, 30-32. Pterygoids in contact. Length, 5 ft. 6 in. This species is chiefly to be distinguished by the absence of a distinct marked-off beak. This gives to the dolphin an appearance not at all like that of other species of the genus, and it has indeed been referred to Prodelpkinus. But, as already mentioned, these two genera are not very far apart ; it is a southern form. Lagenorkynckus tkicolea, also named by Gray,f is known from a single skull only. Its chief feature is the large number of teeth (45) ; and it is on these grounds that it has been admitted to specific rank. In Lagenorkynckus super ciliosus, Schlegel, \ the teeth are 30. Vertebrae: C. 7 ; D. 13 ; L. 20 ; Ca. 33 = 73- Pterygoids in contact. This species, from the Cape of Good Hope, is only known by a skeleton. * Spicilegia Zool., 1828, p. 2. t Proc. Zool. Soc , 1 849, p. 2. I Abhandl. in d. Gcbiet Zool., 1841, p. 22. 204 A BOOK OF WHALES Lagenorkynchus fitzroyi, Waterhouse '' ( = D. cruciger, Ouoy and Gaimard ; L. clanculus, Gray), has a length of 5 to 6 feet. Beak short. Dorsal fin large. Teeth, 28. Pterygoids in contact. Whether the above synonyms relate to one and the same species is far from a certainty. (Dr. Gray, indeed, adds obscurus and superciliosus to the list.) But in any case all the forms mentioned in the list are from the shores of Patagonia and from the southern ocean. They are also much patched with white, and have, according to illustrations, much the same external appearance. As mentioned before, the discrimination of the different species of dol- phins is a task beyond the capacities of those who have not the entire museums of the world at their command. The next species, Lagenorhynchus electra of Gray,f has only twenty-three teeth in each jaw. Skull massive. Rostrum broad, long, and flat. Mesethmoid much ossified and visible superiorly. The four following names are probably to be re- garded as synonyms :• — L. asia, Gray ; Electra obtusa, Id.; Delphinus fusiformis, Owen ; P hoc ana pectoralis, Peale ; of P. pectoralis only is the external form known. This species appears to differ from all other * Zoology of " Beagle" Mamm., 1839, p. 25. t Zool. «> Erebus" and* Terror? 1846, p. 35. DOLPHINS 265 members of the genus by the amount of ossification in the mesethmoid, and by its appearance on the dorsal surface of the skull. The species is from the Indian Ocean and the tropical Pacific. The two next species are British, and can be easily separated. Lagenorhynchus albirostris, Gray,* has a length of 9 feet. Teeth, 26. Vertebrae: C. 7 ; D. 15 (16) ; L. 23 (24) ; Ca. 43 (45) = 88 (92). Five ribs, reach sternum ; 6 or 7 two-headed. Pterygoids in contact. This species occurs on our own coasts, and is, so far as is known, purely a northern species. It appears that the winter is passed in the more tem- perate regions of the north, and the summer in the arctic regions. The dolphin goes about in large bands, and is a fish-eater in the main. Lagenorhynchus acuhis, Grayt ( = Delphinus csch- richtii, Schlegel ; D. leucopleurus, Rasch). Length, 8 feet. Dorsal fin high. Beak small. Teeth, 35-37. Vertebrae: C. 7; D. (14), 15; L. 18-22; Ca. 38-41=78-82. Pterygoids in contact. This also is a northern species. It occurs in vast herds of as many as fifteen hundred individuals on the coast of Norway ; it is then in pursuit of the herrings. A skeleton in the British Museum has the &>v * Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1846, xvii., p. 84. t In BROOKE'S Cat. Mus., 1828. 266 A BOOK OF~WHALES four last cervicals free. Six of the ribs are two- headed ; but as few as five, and as many as seven, may be so.* Lagenorhynckus obliquidens, Gill, t may be distin- guished in the following terms :-- Length, 7 feet some inches. Colour, greenish black above, with lateral broad longitudinal stripes of white-grey and dull black; white below. Teeth, 31. Vertebrae: C. 7; D. 13; L. 24; Ca. 30 = 74. Pterygoids not in contact, divergent posteriorly. This is a North Pacific species of exceeding activity. It congregates in herds of 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 sideways upon the water with a spiteful splash, accompanied by a report that may be heard at some distance. When a brisk breeze is blowing they frequently play about the bow of a ship going at her utmost speed, darting across the cut-water and shooting ahead, or circling around the vessel, apparently sporting at ease." These porpoises feed upon small fish, and, says Scammon, act up to their character of the "sea swine," filling themselves to repletion. As with other dolphins, these animals will collect in calm weather in immense herds, huddled together on the surface of the water. * LiiTKEN, "Critical Studies upon Odontoceti," Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (2), xii., 1888, p. 179. t P. A cad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1865, p. 177. DOLPHINS 267 Finally, Dr. Moreno* has described Lagenorkynchus floweri, from the bay of St. Cruz. It is i m. 29 long, with nearly the whole of the middle part of the body white, the rest black. The teeth are 20. The genus SOTALIA has :- -Teeth, tolerably large, 26-35 in number in each jaw. Vertebrae : C. 7 ; D. ir, 12; L. 10-14; C. 22 = 51-55 in all. The pterygoids are separate. There are three elements in the sternum, and there are five to seven pairs of sternal ribs. The number of phalanges in the digits is as follows:— I, o. II, 6. Ill, 5. IV, 2. V, i. Beak distinct. The manus is long, falcate, or oval. The dorsal fin is falcate. Of this genus there are some five or six species ; the exact number cannot be fixed at present. They are not large dolphins. Eight or nine feet may be regarded as the greatest length attained to. The remarkable fact about the dolphins of this genus is their usually pale coloration. Thus S. sinensis is milky white with pinkish fins. The upper part of the body in S. pallida is yellowish white, the under surface white. S. plumbea is a uniform plumbeous grey. A good many of the species, moreover, are found in rivers and estuaries. In the Amazons and other streams of South America are two recognised o species, and three more doubtful ones. S. sinensis lives in several rivers of China. On the other hand, there are others which are as purely marine in habit. * Revista Mus. la Plata, iii., p. 385. 268 A BOOK OF WHALES The most remarkable species of the genus is the supposed vegetarian Solatia teiiszei, from Cameroon river, West Africa. Sotalia sinensis is in colour milky white, with pinkish fins. Teeth, 32. Vertebrae: D. 12; L. 10 ; Ca. 22 = 51. This species, from the harbour of Amoy and the Canton river, was originally mentioned by Osbeck, a pupil of Linnaeus, who travelled to China in a merchant vessel in 1751. Its osteology has been fully described by Sir William Flower in the memoir cited below.* As neither Osbeck, the discoverer, nor F. Cuvier, nor Desmarest at all described the species, its specific name should be attributed to Flower. Osbeck, indeed, "not understanding," as Cuvier observed, "the principles of his master, and attaching himself exclusively, as did many others, to increasing the catalogue which Linnaeus had published . . . simply defined this dolphin : like the common dolphin, but entirely of a bright white." It is not, therefore, surprising that F. Cuvier included this form among the dolphins — " dont 1'existence comme espece est douteuse." Sotalia plumbed^ of Cuvier,t has a colour of uniform plumbeous grey, white on lower jaw. Teeth, 37-39. This species is one of the marine forms, coming * Trans. Zool. Soc., vii. (1870), p. 151. t Rcgne Ani/n., 2nd ed., 1829, p. 288. X UJ N I •a? I 7 Q w s o" DOLPHINS 269 from the Malabar coast. Its external characters have been described by M. Dussumier, who observes that the young have much more white about them than the adults — a reversal of the conditions of colour which characterise, for example, the Beluga. This species is said to be slower in its movements than many dolphins. It reaches eight feet in length. Solatia gadamu, Owen,* is in colour dark plum- beous grey, below pinkish ashy grey, with a few darker blotches. Teeth, 26. Rostrum not so long as in last two species. This species, known only from a sketch of its shape and colour, and from the skull, is named by the fishermen of Vizagapatam " Gadamu," whence its specific name. Also described by Owen is Sotalia tentiginosa, of a bluish cinereous colour, freckled with dark brown. Fins smaller than in S. gadamu. Teeth, 33-34. This species, from the same locality as the last, is regarded by Flower as doubtfully distinct. True, however, affirms the correctness of Sir R. Owen in giving it a separate name. And we shall follow him. Dr. Blanford would refer this and the last species (under the name of S. perniger\} to the genus Steno. (Fig- 34-) In addition to the species of Sotalia enumerated, * Trans. Zool. Soc., vi., 1866, p. 17. t Fauna of British India, " Mammals," p. 583, 270 A BOOK OP WHALES there are a number of forms existing in the rivers <_> of South America to which, at any rate, five names have been given. But what differences separate S. guianensis of van Beneden, 5". brasiliensis of the same, S. p alii da of Gervais, .5*. tucuxi of Gray, from each other and from S. fluviatilis of Gervais is a matter which is not ripe for decision, barely, indeed, for discussion. Mr. True thinks that the two marine forms ,5. guianensis and .S. brasiliensis are distinct from the remaining, which are fluviatile. We shall accept what seems to be in itself a reasonable view. Sotalia guianensis, of van Beneden ( = Sot 'alia brasiliensis, Id.),* is in, colour black or brown, white below. Teeth, 29-34. Vertebrae, 54 (55), of which ii or 12 dorsal. The example of Sotalia brasiliensis studied by van Beneden was a smaller individual than that of S. guianensis, itself a fact tending to throw doubt upon the distinctness of the two forms, considering the minute points of difference which distinguish them. However, Professor van Beneden's coloured figure of S. brasiliensis shows an animal which is largely of a pale brown colour. But this is by no means without the boundaries of colour variation, so little known, as must be constantly insisted upon among the whales. Goeldi, who has lately re- investigated the species " brasiliensis, y 'f thinks that * Mem. Ac. Roy. Belg., xli., 1875. t Zool.Jahrb. Syst. Abth., iii., iSSS, p. 134. DOLPHINS 271 there may be two or three rudimentary ribs behind the eleven well-developed ones. The sternum of the species is formed of three pieces, which coalesce later. Five ribs articulate with the sternum. This species is so common in the bay of Rio de Janeiro that it is impossible to cross the bay without seeing a few sporting in the immediate neighbourhood of the ship. The old-world superstitions regarding the dolphin have been in some curious fashion transferred to this new-world form. The natives think that it will bring to shore the bodies of drowned persons. The fact that it is regarded as a sacred animal is rather bad for science, as specimens are hard to obtain. Solatia pallida, Gervais* (probably the same as Steno tuciixi, Gray, and Sotalia fluviatilis, van Beneden and Gervais), has a black colour above, and is white or pinkish below. The teeth are thirty in each jaw. As already mentioned, materials do not exist for saying whether there is but one or whether there are two or three species comprised in the forms here provisionally grouped under one name. It may be that S. pallida is simply a pale- coloured variety, or there may be, as in Inia (q.v.), a sexual difference of coloration. Sotalia teuszei, Ktikenthal,f is certainly distinct ; it * In CASTELNAU, E.\ped. Americ. Sud., 1855. p. 94. t Zool.Jahrb. Syst. Abth., vi., 1892, p. 442, 272 A BOOK OF' WHALES • is eight or nine feet in length, the nostrils projecting beyond face as a tubular process. This dolphin comes from the Cameroon river, and is another example of a purely fresh-water species. It is an exceedingly scarce whale, only one specimen having been seen in as many as ten years. The prolongation of the nostrils is a most remarkable feature, and is amply sufficient to distinguish the species from any other.* Its habits are almost unique by reason of the fact that it is a vegetable feeder. In the stomachs of some other whales vegetable debris has been found ; but in the present species nothing else was found. In accordance with this presumed habit the teeth are not sharply pointed as in S. sinensis. The animal is rather underjawed, and the skin is described as being especially thick. Of the osteology only the skull is known. The genus STENO has 20-27 teeth, which are large with furrowed surfaces to their crowns. Vertebrae : C. 7 ; D. 12 (13); L. 15; Ca. 32 (30) = 65, 66. First two vertebrae fused, rest separate. Pterygoids in contact. The formula of the phalanges is : I, 4. II, 8. Ill, 6. IV, 3. V, 3. Dorsal and pectoral fins falcate. Beak distinct. Of this genus there are two species, S. perspicillatus and S. restrains. The former lives in the South Atlantic ; the latter is more widely spread. The * The blow hole of Balcenoptera has been said to be puffed out during expiration, DOLPHINS 273 genus is to be distinguished from Sotalia by the rugose crowns of the teeth, which are smooth in Sotalia, and by the closely approximated pterygoids. Steno rostratus, of Desmarest,* is in colour purplish sooty black above, sides with yellowish white spots under surface white, tinged with rose. Teeth, 20-27. The ribs are 13. Vertebrae, 65. This species, if all the synonyms (Delphinus frontatus^ Cuvier ; D. bredanensis, Cuvier ; D. planiceps, Schlegel ; Steno compressus, Gray ; D. reinwardti, Schlegel ; D. Pernettyi, Desmarest) rightly apply to one species, ranges from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. It is a largish dolphin, measuring eight or nine feet. The remaining species, Steno per spicillatus, Peters, f may be thus defined : — Colour, black above, white below, sides yellowish white ; a black line from ring round eye joins its fellow on opposite side round forehead. Teeth, 23. Ribs, 12. Vertebrae, 66. This dolphin is rather smaller than the last (about 7 ft. 6 in.), and is confined to the South Atlantic. The genus TURSIOPS has the teeth large, 22-26 in number. Vertebral formula: C. 7 ; D. 12, (13); L. 16, (i/); Ca. 26 (27) = 6i or 64. Five or six ribs two-headed. Pterygoids in contact. Phalanges: I, i. * Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., ix., 1817, p. 160. t MB, k. Akad. Berlin, 1876, p. 360. 274 A BOOK OF' WHALES II, (6), 7. Ill, 6-8. IV, 3. V, i, (2). Fins falcate. Beak distinct. Of this genus again the exact number of species is at present a matter of opinion rather than of certainty. Sir W. Flower is doubtful whether there are more than two. Mr. True allows and defines five. The genus is universal in range. Ten feet is about the limit of size reached. It seems difficult to give anything like satisfactory definitions of more than the type species. Gray's T. catalama, which is allowed by both Sir W. Flower and Mr. True, is mainly to be distinguished by colour ; it is said to be "a very light lead colour above and on the sides, gradually passing into the dirty leaden white of the lower parts, which were covered, as also the flippers, with longitudinally elongated blotches of dark lead colour." It has twenty-five teeth in each jaw instead of twenty-three ; but are these points to be relied upon as distinguishing it ? True thinks that it may be the same as Riippel's T, abusalam. This whale has the upper surface sea-green, of a dark hue, instead of lead colour. It has twenty-six teeth and fewer vertebrae, the formula being : C. 7 ; D. 12; L. 1 6 ; Ca. 26 = 61. It is from the Red Sea, while T. catalania is Australian. As to the difference in the vertebral formula, Mr. True has pointed out that a specimen of T. tursio in the British Museum has but twelve ribs, and another but sixty-one vertebrae altogether. Its differences from T, tursio are at most but slight. LU J- DOLPHINS 275 Ttirsiops tursio, Fabricius,* (Plate XVII.) has the upper surface lead colour ; under surface white. Teeth, 23. Vertebrae: C. 7; D. (12) 13; L. 17; Ca. 27 = 64. This — the only satisfactory type of the genus — is apparently of universal range, specimens having been recorded from our own coasts (rarely, how- ever), North America, New Zealand, Seychelles. The size of this species is some ten feet, but it has been recorded as reaching twelve. Van Beneden mentions that of specimens captured at Arcachon the colour was an intense black save for a white streak on the ventral surface, which was greyer in the male. The fcetus possesses 4-7 hairs on each side. The amount to which the cervical vertebrae are fused varies. The two first appear to be always united ; of the following ones, more or fewer are also fused. Sir W. Flower has figured its external charac- ters, t Mr. True | observes of this whale that its eyelids are as mobile as in the terrestrial mammalia. The name tursio is derived from Pliny, but there is no sure ground for identification. The ingenious Belon would derive " Marsouin " (a corruption of " Meerschwein ") from tursio. But as Frederick Cuvier justly remarks, "We may agree that it would be difficult to place faith in specific analogies founded upon such a system ! " * Fauna Greenland, 1780, p. 49. t Trans. Zool. Soc., xi., PI. I. t " Observations on the Life History of the Bottlenose Porpoise," Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 1890, p. 197. 276 A BOOK OF -WHALES Delphinus truncatus, Montagu ; D. metis, Gray ; D. cymodice, Id., ; D. eurynome. Id., are apparently synonyms. Tursiops catalania, Gray,* is in size small (6 feet 9 inches). The colour is as in T. tursio, but the sides are covered with blotches of darker colour. Beak relatively longer than in T. tiirsio. This species, as already said, is admitted by both Sir William Flower and by Mr. True. It is a native of the north-east coast of Australia. The skull only (as far as the skeleton is concerned) is known ; but the collector, Mr. John MacGillivray, sent home to Dr. Gray careful measurements and a description of the colour of two specimens which he obtained at localities not far apart. Tursiops abusalam, Riippell,f is dark green above ; under surface white with dark spots. Teeth, 26. Vertebrae: D. 12; L. 16; C. 26 = 61. Beak longer than in T. tursio. This dolphin, from the Red Sea, does not differ widely from Tiirsiops catalania, and may very possibly be identical with it. Yet the green colour seems to be characteristic and, as dolphins go, unusual. The number of vertebrae and ribs, as a character, must be handled with caution, for Mr. True records an un- doubted T. tursio with but twelve ribs and sixty-one vertebrae. * Proc. Zool. Sac., 1862, p. 143. t Museum Senckenberg, iii., 1845, p. 140. DOLPHINS 277 Tursiops gillii, the " Cowfish " of Scammon, of which he gives "approximate outlines," is black all over, only a little paler below. Though True admits it is a species, it would perhaps be well to wait for further materials before allowing it a place in the system. Certain small marks in the skull lead Mr. True to give it a separate place in the list of existing species of Cetacea. Tursiops parvimamLS, of Reinhardt,* is said to differ chiefly by more numerous phalanges of the third digit. Seeing that there is so great a variety in the number of ossifications in the hand, it is not a satisfactory way of defining a species to use this character. The species, moreover, was "founded on a single young individual from the Adriatic " another unsatisfactory point, if we are to regard it as distinct. Liitken is inclined to suggest an identity with T. catalania. The genus CEPHALORHYNCHUS is distinguished by the following assemblage of characters :- -Teeth, 25-31, small, sharp. Pterygoids widely apart; pre- maxillse ridged in front of nasal apertures. Vertebrae, 63-67. Dorsal fin triangular or ovate. This is a genus of antarctic dolphins, limited, so far as is known, to the seas about the Cape, New Zealand, and Chili. Their external appearance is * See LlJTKEN, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (2), xii., 1888, p. 179. A trans- lation of a paper in Danish. 278 A BOOK OF WHALES suggestive of that of the Porpoises, and the form of the pterygoids is much like what is found in the genus Plwccena, as also the elevations upon the pre-maxillae. They have not a beak well marked off from the rest of the head ; but this fact of struc- ture has not been incorporated into the generic diagnoses, since in C. hectori there is a hint of one, which is indistinctly marked off from the forehead. The small size and non-falcate form of the pectoral limb might perhaps be added as a generic character ; but in C. albifrons these limbs are, though small and elongated as in the other species, slightly falcate. Cepkalorhynchus heavidsidii, Gray * (Plate XVIII.), the first described species of the genus, has the pectoral fin elliptical and the dorsal fin triangular. Teeth, 25-30. Vertebral formula: C. 7; D. 13; L. 15; Ca. 30 = 65. Pterygoids short and widely separated. Length, about 48 inches. The colour of this dolphin appears to be black with a good deal of white or pale yellow on the ventral surface. But there is evidently some variation, as F. Cuvier's " Marsouin du Cap "t is stated to be entirely black save for a white spot on each side. Sir W. Flower and Mr. True unite these two forms, and the former suggests that Cuvier's "species" may be a melanic variety of the more typical form. The first * Spicil. Zool., 1828, p. 2. t This has been called Delphinus capensis. Other species, called by Frederick Cuvier D. cephalorhynclms and D. hastatus, are believed to be synonymous. LU h E5 %1 k. "« O a jji "v T3 o TO a DOLPHINS 279 six pairs of ribs are two-headed and five reach the sternum. Cephalorhynchw albifrons. True, is a changed name for Electra clancula, Hector,* and has the pectoral fin falcate and the dorsal fin low and ovate. Teeth, 3 1 . Pterygoids long and constricted at base. Length, rather over four feet. This species, instead of being black, is grey over the greater part of the body ; the fins are darker than the trunk. The next species, Cephalorhynchus hectori (van Beneden),f has an obtusely-pointed pectoral fin ; the dorsal fin is low and ovate ; the beak is slightly marked. Teeth, 30. Vertebrae: D. 14; L. 15; C. 27 = 63. This New Zealand species is very near to both the last. But the throat and lower jaw are white. It has not the white forehead of C. albifrons. The fourth and last species of the genus Cephalo- rhynclms eutropia, Gray| ( = Eutropia dickei, Id.), has thirty teeth in each half of each jaw. Skull larger than in C. heavisidii, with longer and more closely approximated pterygoids. This species is only known from a skull from the coast of Chili. Sir William Flower, as well as Mr. True, pronounce this form to be quite distinct. * Tr. New Zeal, hist., v., 1873, p. 160. t Bull. Roy. Acad. Belg. (3), i., iSSi, p. 877. \ Proc. Zoo 1. Soc., 1849, p. i. 280 A BOOK OF' WHALES The genus GLOB1CEPHALUS* has 7-12 teeth on each side confined to the anterior region. O Vertebrae: C. 7 ; D. 1 1 ; L. 1 1-14 ; C. 27-29 = 58 or 59. Six of the ribs are two-headed. Skull raised into a very strong prominence behind blow hole. Pterygoids large and in contact. Pectoral fin long and falcate ; dorsal fin moderately so. The number of phalanges is : 1,3-4. 11,9-14. Ill, 9-11. IV, 2-3. V, i, 2. No beak. Very broad pre-maxillae and rostrum generally. The best known and most widely distributed species is Globicephalus melas, Traill.f (Plate XIX.) The colour of the whale is black save for a white area on breast. Teeth, 10. Pterygoids not greatly wider in front than behind. This species has an extremely wide range ; it is common in the northern seas, and specimens indis- tinguishable from those of British waters have been received from New Zealand and the Cape.J In a specimen at the British Museum without epiphyses there were six cervical vertebrae fused and only one free. In a younger individual only five were fused. This example is one of many which shows how careful it is necessary to be in using the num- ber of vertebrae of the neck which are fused as a * The most elaborate memoir upon the structure of Globicephalus is that of MURIE in Trans. Zool. Sac., viii., 1873, p. 235. t Nicholson 's Journ., xxii., 1809, p. 81. J The Scottish vernacular for this creature, " Caa'ing whale," means Driving whale. One of the vernacular names given by Dr. Gray is " Howling whale." This is clearly a mistranslation of the Scotch ! x X UJ h OJ 6 DOLPHINS 281 character. Of the eleven ribs six have two heads. There are fourteen lumbars and twenty-two caudals. In the older specimen there are altogether forty-one lumbo-caudals. The phalanges in digits II and III of the embryo may reach so high a number as twenty-seven and twelve respectively. The formation therefore of a species (G. propinquus, Malm) upon a fcetus with a greater number of phalanges than the adult G. me/as is not permissible. The fcetus has a few hairs, four or five. All of the seven following names are to be looked upon as synonyms : — Globicephalus svineval, Gray ; G. affinis, Id. ; G. edwardsi, Smith ; G. incrassatus, Gray ; Delphinus inter me dius, Harlan ; D. deductor, Scoresby ; D. globiccps. Cuvier. This whale has been largely fished in the Faroe Islands. Mr. H. C. M tiller, a native of those islands, has recently gone into the matter and collected a large amount of information, which is here partly abstracted. It appears that the earliest date concerning the appearance of these whales was in the year 1584. The animal is spoken of as " Grindehval," a herd being: termed "Grind/ which signifies lattice work. o o Its application to the whales is apparently the placing of a line of boats across the mouth of a bay where a herd of the Cetaceans has run toward the shore. The results of the fisheries have fluctuated much in the period of years from the date already mentioned. The whales are hunted and captured in the follow- ing manner. When a herd is discovered a piece of 282 A BOOK OF WHALES garment is hoisted from the mast of a boat; the inhabi- tants then rush to their boats, and drawing together shape a half-circle round the herd ; stones are thrown into the water, by means of which the herd may be driven in any direction. They are then driven in shore to a whale voe, which is a bay with a level sloping bottom of mud or sand, preferably loose, so that the water becomes muddy and the whales cannot see their way. When the herd has arrived j at the mouth of this bay the boats arrange themselves in three lines, so that if one is broken through the animals may be driven back by the second, and so on. The whales are then killed with lances. The value of an average whale is £$ js. 6d., of which the oil (one barrel-full) is estimated at 45^. The meat is dried or pickled, and the stomach is dried and made into buoys.* Globicephalus scammonii, of Cope,f has a length of 1 5 feet some inches. Colour entirely black. Teeth, 8. Pterygoids closely approximated and closely ad- dressed. Inter-maxilke not projecting over margins of maxillae. This species, which inhabits the North Pacific, is said by Scammon to be "generally found wherever Sperm whales resort." Probably this is due to their feeding on the same kind of food as their gigantic * "Whale-Fishing in the Faroe Islands," an essay in Fish and Fisheries. Edinburgh, Blackwood, 1883. t P. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1869, p. 21. DOLPHINS 283 relatives — to wit, squid. The "fish" goes in schools from ten up to hundreds, which sometimes move rapidly, and occasionally lie closely huddled together at the surface. It seems to be unnecessary to state that this whale is called "black-fish," for so many whales are called by this exceedingly obvious name. It is not considered a prize by whalers, for its oil is not abundant. Globicephalus brachypteriis, also of Cope,* is in colour entirely black. Teeth, 8. Pre-maxillae greatly expanded anteriorly, covering maxillae. This Atlantic species is of the form and size of the Caa'ing whale. It may show a difference in the num- ber of lumbar vertebrae, which are stated at eleven. But the commencement of the Caudal series being marked by the first chevron, which bones are very apt to be lost, it is a little difficult to be certain upon this point. The total number of vertebrae is given at 57, one or two less than the numbers ascertained for G. me las. Other reputed species are G. sieboldi, which in Schlegel's drawing has a very different aspect from G. me/as, being of a more slender build with a very falcate dorsal fin ; G. macrorhynckus, of Gray, and of unknown locality and unknown form ; what is known about it is the skull. Globicephalus indicus, of Blyth,f is allowed by * Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phiiad., 1876, p. 129. t Jouni. Asia/. Soc. Bengal, xxi., p. 358. 234 A BOOK OF WHALES Blanford as a distinct form. It has 6-7 teeth on each side above and 7-8 below. The pre-maxillae are broad and entirely cover maxilla. Its colour is a uniform leaden black. The length is 14 feet 2 inches. The animal goes in shoals, and frequents the Gangetic delta. The genus TURSIO must be carefully distinguished from Tur stops. Its characters are : Beak distinct ; no dorsal fin. Teeth small and numerous, 44. Pterygoids separate. It is a pity that the name Tursio antedates Leuco- rhamphus, since Tursio is so evidently suggestive of Tursiops, to which genus the present is not so nearly allied as it is to Prodelphinus. The name of " Right Whale Porpoise " has been applied to the dolphins of this genus on account, of course, of the absence of the dorsal fin. The northern T. borealis seems to be only distinguishable from the southern T. peronii by its slightly different coloration ; this does not appear to be a sufficient reason for sepa- rating them. But the matter will not be decided here. The species peronii has a wide range, and is black above and white beneath, the colours joining abruptly. It is southern in range, antarctic in fact, though ranging as far north as New Guinea. The genus GRAMPUS* (Plate XX.) has no teeth * The derivation of the word Grampus (which has a sdmewhat loose significance when used as an English word, applying also to Orca) is variously given as grand poisson and gras poisson. X X UJ 1- i I 00 ro u DOLPHINS 285 in upper jaw, but 3-7 on each side of mandible near to the symphysis. Vertebrae : C. 7 ; D. 12 ; L. 19 ; Ca. 30 = 68. Six or seven pairs of ribs two-headed; five pairs, sometimes seven, reach the sternum. Skull with pterygoids in contact ; pre-maxillae in front of nares raised. No beak. Pectoral fin long, pointed, falcate ; dorsal fin high and falcate. Number of phalanges: I, 2. II, S-io. Ill, 6-8. IV, 3. V, i. In the vertebral column only the seventh vertebra of the cervical series appears to remain free. The only species is Grampiis griseiis, Cuvier.* D. rissoanus, Desmarest ; Grampus cuvieri, Gray ; G. souverbianus, Fischer ; G. sakamata, Gray ; G. stearnsi, Dall ; G. c/iinensis, Gray, are believed really to refer to the same whale. This dolphin, often called Risso's dolphin, f is mainly Mediterranean and North Atlantic in range. But like so many other Cetaceans its limits are not very fixed, and a skull (conceivably belonging to a different species) has been recorded from the Cape. It may return to those more southern latitudes during the winter. Risso's dolphin is from 10-13 feet in length, and is distinguished by its very remarkable coloration. The prevalent tint is grey, varying on the fins and tail to black, and to white on the belly. This white has a yellowish tinge anteriorly, but the curious feature of the coloration is a series of * Ann. Mus., xix., 1812, p. 14. t W. H. FLOWER, "On Risso's Dolphin," Trans. Zool. Sec., 1872, vol. viii., p. i. 286 A BOOK OR WHALES • irregular light streaks and spots suggestive of scrapings upon wet paint. In a younger individual the sides were marked with six regular transverse O stripes. This animal (only six feet in length) had eight whitish bristles on each side of the upper lip. This is not by any means a common Cetacean. Only a dozen records of its capture upon the English and French coasts are extant. It feeds upon cuttle- fish and is gregarious. The genus ORCA* (Plate XXI.) has 10-13 teeth, large, with recurved crowns. Pterygoids not quite meeting. Vertebrae: C. 7; D. 11-12; L. 10 ; Ca. 23 = 51 or 52. First two or three cervicals fused. The first seven ribs are two-headed ; five reach the sternum. Dorsal fin large and pointed. The Killer whales (" Tyrannus balaenarum," " For- midabilis balsenarum hostis "), sometimes called "Grampus,"t are the largest among the Delphinidae, reaching a length of 20-30 feet. They are power- ful, rapacious animals, and are the only whales that feed upon their own kind and upon large prey. It is perhaps not necessary to believe with an old writer that a Killer has been seen with a seal under each flipper, a third tucked away under the dorsal fin, and a fourth in the mouth ; but it is stated by Eschricht that from the stomach of one of these fierce whales * See especially VAN BENEDEN, in Mem. Acad. Belg., 1882. t A French word for this whale, used by Rondeletius, is Epaulard ; i.e., peisaulard. X X LJ Sn I rt 2 z CO 0 DOLPHINS 287 no less than thirteen porpoises and fourteen seals were extracted. Scammon relates how they may some- times "be seen peering above the surface with a seal in their bristling jaws, shaking and crushing their victims, apparently with great gusto, and swallowing them." A party of Killers will also assault the laro-est whales. Scammon relates an attack of this o nature upon a Californian Grey whale, which he wit- nessed. "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." The ferocity, or at any rate the boldness, of this predaceous Cetacean is also attested to by his High- ness the Prince of Monaco.* "Two years ago," the Prince writes, " I chased a school of three of these just off the Monaco rock, and very soon one was struck by my whaler's harpoon. While it was ending with violent struggles the two others came alongside the whale-boat, and seemed willing to fight for their companion. They swam round and round, sometimes so close that the men touched their enormous backs with their hands." It has been even said that the * In Nature of June 3oth, 1898 (p. 203). 28cS A BOOK OF WHALES long and pointed dorsal fin is used for aggressive purposes, to rip up the belly of a whale ! The Hon. Paul Dudley* thus describes the attacks of the Killers upon whalebone whales : " They go in company by dozens and set upon a young whale, and will bait him like so many bulldogs. Some will lay hold of his tail to keep him from threshing, while others lay hold of his head and bite and thresh him, till the poor creature, being thus heated, lolls out his tongue, and then some of the Killers catch hold of his lips, and, if possible, of his tongue ; and after they have killed him they chiefly feed upon the tongue and head, but when he begins to putrefy they leave him. This Killer is doubtless the Orca that Dr. Frangius describes in his Treatise of Animals. His words are these: "When an Orca pursues a whale the latter makes a terrible bellowing, like a bull when bitten by a dog." These Killers are of such strength that when several boats together have been towing o o a dead whale, one of them has come and fastened his teeth in her and carried her away down to the bottom in an instant." In more northern regions the Orca pursues the White whale and the walrus. Not indeed the adult walrus, whose strong tusks may be supposed to be a sufficient protection. It is the young that the Killer hunts. "The cub will mount upon its mother's back for refuge, clinging to it with instinctive solici- tude. When in this apparently safe position the * Phil. Trans., xxxiii., 1725, p. 82 (abridged edition). DOLPHINS 289 rapacious Orca quickly dives, and, coming up under the parent animal, with a spiteful thud throws the young one from the dam's back into the water, when in a twinkling it is seized, and with one crush devoured by its enemy." These observations refer to the Killer whales in general. A large number of different species have been described or at least named. " But," observes Sir W. Flower, "their specific differential characters, if any, have never been clearly defined." We shall not, there- fore, attempt any discrimination of species. These have been partly founded upon the varying length of the dorsal fin and upon the colour, which is black, more or less pervaded with white blotches (yellow in v. Beneden's figure). The typical Orca gladiator* has much white about the body, and an excellent model of this Cetacean, agreeing with Mr. True's fia-ure of the whale, has been o set up in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington. It is a whale that has been fre- O quently met with upon our shores, and a few years since a herd of three ascended the Thames for some distance. It occurs also in all parts of the world. It is quite possible that there are several species of the genus. But probably the bulk of the dozen or so of species allowed by Dr. Gray have no existence save in his and in other catalogues. * It is only possible to be certain of the existence of one species. In this case O. ilnhameli, Lacepede ; O. schlcgclii, Liljeborg ; O. minor, Malm, etc., are merely synonyms, U 2go A BOOK OF WHALES It is probable, according to F. Cuvier,* that this whale is the "aries marinus " of the ancients (possibly the "horrible Sea-satyre " of Edmund Spenser), for the white marks on the head might be fancifully interpreted as closely adpressed horns. The genus PSEUDORCA is thus definable :- -Teeth, 8-10, much like those of Orca. Rostral portion of pre-maxillse broader than in Orca. Vertebral formula : C. 7; D. 10; L. 9 ; Ca. 24 = 50. Six or all cervicals united. Six ribs two-headed. Dorsal fin rather small, falcate. There is but a single recognised species, which is Pseudorca crassidens, Owen. \ This whale reaches a length of about fourteen feet. It was originally de- scribed from a skull found in the Lincolnshire fens, and was naturally supposed to be an extinct species. But afterwards it was discovered to live in the North Sea, and a species at first regarded as distinct, Ps. meridionalis, was received from Tasmanian seas. The whale is scarce, and there is not very much to be said about it. It is not precisely evident why systematists have thought fit to remove it from the genus Orca, to which it is clearly very closely allied. The o-enus ORCELLA is thus characterised : — o Teeth, 14-19, small, sharp. Pterygoids widely * De PHistoire Naturelle des Cetace'es, p. 179. t British Foss. Mamm., p. 516 ( = Pseudorca meridionalis, Flower, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1864, P- 24°)- DOLPHINS 291 separate ; rostral portion of pre-maxillae broad. Vertebral formula: D. 14; L. 14; C. 26 = 61. Seven ribs two-headed ; five reach sternum. No beak. Dorsal fin small, falcate. Of this genus there is really but one species, Orcella brevirostris, Owen.* Head convex anteriorly. Pectoral fins triangular ; dorsal fin small, falcate. The present species is a partly fresh-water form, and occurs in the Irrawaddy 3-900 miles from the sea. It is also marine. I unite the two species which True regards as separate f on the authority of Mr. Thomas,! wno nas recently examined material. The genus SAGMATJAS has the pre-maxillae elevated into a crest in front of nostrils. Pterv- J goids short, scarcely or not at all touching. Teeth small, 32. Of this genus but a single species, S. amblodon, is known, and that only (as will be observed from the definition) from a single skull, described by the late Professor Cope. But the singular crest formed by the elevation of the pre-maxillse is a character which seems to be in the present state of our knowledge of generic value ; it is, however, met with in Phoccena. * Trans. Zoo!. Soc., vi., p. 24. t Orcella fluminalis, Gray (from Anderson's MSS.), Suppl. Cat. Whales, p. So. + Ann. AIus. Civ. Geneva (2), x., p. 927. 292 A BOOK OF WHALES The genus FERESA need hardly detain us long. It is only known from two skulls with 10-12 teeth in each half of each jaw, both assigned now to the same species, F. intermedia (one was described as F. attenuata). Sir W. Flower describes it as "a connecting link between Globiceps, Grampus, and Lagenorhynchus." It must not be confounded with the very doubtful " Delphinus feres" of Bonnaterre, wrhich has been variously interpreted as an Orca or as a Ziphioid. CHAPTER XI. ANOMALOUS DOLPHINS FAM i LY, PL A TANISTIDAE WE can define this family by the following characteristics : — Cervical vertebrae all free, and individually of considerable length. Jaws long and narrow with a considerable extent of symphysis, and numerous teeth. Lacrymal bones not distinct from jugal. Pectoral limbs large ; phalanges of digits few in number. This undoubtedly ancient family of dolphin-like Cetacea would be more easily definable if we could eject Pontoporia, which is very distinctly nearer to the true dolphins than are either of the two remaining genera, Platanista and Inia. This indeed is done by Gray, who does actually relegate Pontoporia to the dolphins, making a separate family for the two other genera — a family, that is to say, for each of them. Sir William Flower was content with urging the adoption of sub-family rank for each of the forms Platanista and Inia, avoiding the placing of Ponto- poria, which was not so thoroughly known at the time when he wrote upon these forms as it is now. 293 294 A BOOK OF -WHALES The genus PLATANISTA may be thus distinguished from its allies :— -There is no dorsal fin ; the pectorals are large and truncated at the extremity ; teeth not so numerous as in Inia, some twenty-nine in each half of each jaw. Scapula with the acromion coinciding with the anterior margin of the bone, and a rudimentary coracoicl process only. In the skull there are enormous maxillary crests. The most remarkable feature of the cervical region of the spinal column is the independence and the comparatively great thickness of the individual vertebrae. There is a fairly strongly-marked odon- toid process on the axis, a very rare feature in whales. The thoracic vertebrae are locked together in a way which is also peculiar to Platanista among whales ; but the mode of attachment of the ribs is on the whole like that of Inia. The first seven of these are attached to the transverse process of their own vertebrae and to the centra of the vertebra in front. There are eight lumbar vertebrae. The sternal ribs, as in Inia, are cartilaginous. The sternum is not so modified as is that of Inia. It consists of three pieces placed end to end, of which the middle one, at any rate, shows traces of its double origin by a suture running down it longitudinally. To the sternum four ribs are attached. The main peculiarity of the scapula (quite unique among whales) has been pointed out in the definition of the genus. As in Inia, the humerus is unusually long. The most ANOMALOUS DOLPHINS 295 remarkable feature in the skull, not even excepting the extraordinary maxillary crests, is the condition of the palatines. These do not enter into the formation of the bony palate, but are concealed by the pterygoids. FIG. 40. Skull of Platanista, lateral view. (After van Beneden and Gervais.) m, Maxillary crest. Platanista gangetica, the species named by Lebeck,* the "long-snouted Dolphin of the Ganges," is limited to that river and to its branches, and to the Indus and its branches. It appears never to leave the streams for the sea. Its food is chiefly fish and prawns, and it is believed largely to grub about in the river mud to obtain its food. The diminutive eyes render pursuit of an active prey at least difficult, but the whale makes up for these defective organs of vision, -...:' * ' Gcsellsch. Nat-Freunde, Berlin, 1801, p. 28b.; The fullest account of the anatomy of this whale is by Dr. Anderson in 'Anatomical and- Zoological Researches . . . Yunnan, 1878, p. 417, 'with many plates of both skeleton and " soft parts." 296 A BOOK OF .WHALES as is elsewhere the case in the animal world, by a sensitive beak. Grain has been found in the stomach of this dolphin ; but Dr. Anderson believes that its presence is accidental and not deliberately caused by the dolphin. The most generally used vernacular term for this Cetacean is Susu ; this and some of the other expressions used by natives in different parts of its range are onomatopoetic words intended to imitate the sound made during spouting. As every- thing that breathes seems to form the food of some tribe or individuals, it is unnecessary to state that the Susu is devoured by many natives. The animal may reach a length of 9*5 feet, but is not usually so large. As to external characters, the most striking point which would be at first noticed is the existence of a distinct neck. Its long snout is curiously suggestive of that of the Gavial of the same region of the world. The next genus, INIA, has only a rudimentary dorsal fin, but large ovate pectorals. The teeth have often a distinct additional tubercle. The maxillary crests are not largely developed. The palatines are separated in the middle line by the vomer. Scapula normal. This genus, like Platanista, includes but a single species. The genus itself is in some respects the most central type of the Platanistidae. It is much more un-dolphin-like than Pontoporia, but not so highly abnormal in the bulk of its characters as is Platanista. ANOMALOUS DOLPHINS 297 The skeleton of this whale has been described by Sir W. Flower^ from a specimen in the British Museum. The skull is very slightly asymmetrical ; it is crested behind the nares, the vertex being formed by the frontals. There is no distinct lacrymal bone. The maxillae are narrow, and excavated by the pre-maxillse in a way paralleled in Pontoporia, but not found among the dolphins. The palatines are separated from each other by the vomer, and the pterygoids are nearly in contact. "The mandible presents a remarkable miniature resemblance to that of a Cachalot." Its most remarkable feature is the great length of the symphysis. The vertebrae are very few, only forty-one in all, which are thus distributed : C. 7 ; D. 1 3 ; L. 3 ; Ca. 18 = 41. The neck, as in Platanista, is particularly long, and for the matter of that distinguishable ex- ternally. This is due to the relatively great length and complete separation from each other of all the cervicals — an uncommon state of affairs in toothed Cetacea, but found in Platanista, Beluga, and Mono- don. There is a faint indication of an odontoid process to the axis, more developed in Platanista. The dorsal vertebrae have high and erect spines. There are both anterior and posterior zygapophyses on the first nine ; anterior zygapophyses only on the tenth and eleventh. The transverse processes begin * " Description of the Skeleton of Inia geoffrensis, etc.," Trans. Zool. Soc., vi., p. 87. 298 A BOOK OF WHALES to be divided into tranverse processes proper, and metapophyses on the fifth dorsal. The former gradually move up towards the anterior zygapophyses, which they entirely supersede on the twelfth vertebra. The latter processes move down and become (on the ninth) fused with the process of the centrum, to which the capitular head of the rib is attached. The arrangement of these tubercles and processes of the vertebrae is related to a singular disposition of the ribs, which is unique among Cetaceans, and is more like that of the Cachalot and Ziphioid whales. The anterior vertebras have a process springing from the neural arch for the tubercular attachment of the rib ; between each two vertebrae (half on each) is a facet for the capitular attachment of the rib. In the fifth vertebra the facet is confined to the anterior edge of the body of that vertebra ; and therefore on this vertebra and those following each rib is solely attached to its own vertebra. As far as the seventh each rib has a double attachment, but on the eighth; or ninth the two facets of insertion have, as already mentioned, coalesced ; from this point, therefore, the ribs are single-headed. In having only three lumbar vertebrae Inia is remarkable among whales. It is a point of likeness to the Sirenia. These vertebrae are compressed and ridged below. There seem to be eleven chevron bones. The ribs are thirteen pairs — the sternal ribs being cartilaginous as in the Physeteridae. It is possible that only two pairs of these reach the sternum, which ANOMALOUS DOLPHINS 299 will be, if confirmed, another small point of likeness to the Sirenia. The sternum itself is not unlike that of a Manatee ; it is a single bone, oval in outline, with a deep anterior notch. In the whalebone whales the sternum also consists of a single piece. The scapula, unlike that of Platanista, is not aberrant, but conforms to the ordinary dolphin pattern. Both acromion and coracoid are long. The humerus is unusually long (a clearly unspecialised character), and longer than the radius or ulna, the reverse being the case in other Cetacea. The hand has five carpals besides the pisiform. The formula of the phalanges is this: I, i. II, 5. Ill, 4. IV, 2. V, 2. The teeth of Inia are from 104 to 132, the formula being ^-^ O 2O to 32* The teeth (as in Stend] are markedly rugose on the crowns. They also show a very important character (in the approach to the complex teeth of terrestrial carnivores) in the presence of a supple- mentary lobe to the hinder teeth. The only species is Inia geoffrensis* with the synonyms : Delpkinus amazonicus, Spix and Martius ; Inia boliviensis, d'Orbigny ; D. geoffroyi, Desmarest. This dolphin frequents the Amazons, and reaches an extreme length of eio-ht feet. It has a striking <~> O ^j coloration, as well as a considerable amount of variability, which, it may be incidentally remarked, throws doubt upon other identifications of Cetaceans * DE BLAINVILLE, Nouv. Did. Hist. Nat., ix., p. 151. 300 A BOOK OF WHALES by colour alone. According to the most recent observer of this species, Mr. E. E. Austen,* it "is either wholly pink or flesh-coloured or else entirely black, or black above and pink beneath." Individuals of the different colours are to be seen in company, and it may be that the difference of colour is sexual. The late Mr. Bates, however, denied that the two sets of individuals were intermingled, so the matter must be regarded for the present as unsettled. As to the colour, it is remarkable that there are other examples of pale-coloured river dolphins (e.g., Sotalia sinensis], a circumstance which must make us pause before accepting the view that the white hue of the arctic Beluga is protective in its nature. The ros- trum of this dolphin is beset with scattered stiff hairs, and the dorsal fin is rudimentary, being reduced to a mere ridge. The native name of the animal is " Bouto," and there are legends to the effect that it will attack a man in the water, while the species of Sotalia found in the same river will endeavour to protect him, the two animals thus playing respectively the roles of the Jaguar and the Puma, according to Mr. Hudson. In any case the natives fear the dolphin, and cannot be induced to harpoon it. Nor will they use the oil for fear that it should bring them bad luck. It is curious that another river dolphin in quite another part of the world, the "river pig" of Canton (? Sotalia sinensis], is, accord- ing to the Rev. H. Friend, "looked upon as a * Proc. Zool. Soc., 1896, p. 771. ANOMALOUS DOLPHINS 301 creature of ill-omen, and on that account its name is tabooed." There is also, according to the late Mr. H. W. Bates, a legend that this dolphin of the Amazons assumes the shape of a beautiful woman and peram- bulates the river banks. Meeting with an impression- able young man in that torrid region, and enticing him by the aspect of her long hair hanging loose at her heels, she inveigles him near the bank and dis- O appears with him beneath the waves. It is stated that such legends, and they abound in the region, are not native at all, but introduced by the Portuguese. Professor Agassiz also having, after some difficulty, secured a specimen of this dolphin, found that, when it finally arrived into his possession, it was sadly mutilated by reason of the superstitious reverence that attached to its eyes and to other parts of its anatomy. Genus PONTOPORIA. Dorsal fin falcate. Teeth very numerous, over 200. Articulation of ribs as in dolphins. Sternum in two pieces. Scapula as in Inia. Palatines separated in the middle line by the vomer. I retain this genus (of which the proper name is really Stenodelpkis, but Pontoporia is so much more familiar) in the family Platanistidae on account of its long and beak-like jaws, the numerous small teeth, and the general similarity of its nearly symmetrical skull to that of Inia. It was thus placed provisionally by 302 A BOOK OF WHALES Sir William Flower* after an examination of the skull only ; since Sir \Y. Flower wrote, the late Professor Burmeisterf has described the other bones and certain of the viscera. The facts thus dis- covered are not so strongly in favour of the Plata- nistid affinities of Pontoporia. But, though it may be regarded as leaning towards the dolphins, there can be no great harm in leaving it for the present in the family Platanistidae. The seven cervical vertebrae are all free, as in other Platanistids ; there are ten dorsal vertebrae only. Burmeister gives also seven lumbars and eighteen caudals, this bringing up the total number of vertebrae to forty-two. I mid the same total number in a specimen in the British Museum, but allow only five lumbars, the rest being caudals. • My enumeration must be accepted if we are to allow the presence of the first chevron bone to mark the com- mencement of the caudal series. This whale, there- fore, is dolphin-like in the greater number of the lumbar vertebrae — that is, of course, as compared with Inia. The sternum consists of two pieces which are ossified ; Burmeister mentions a cartilagin- ous piece between. The hinder half of the sternum was divided longitudinally into two halves ; the British Museum specimen appeared to be adult. There are ten pairs of ribs, of which 1 found the first three pairs to be double-headed. The ribs in this o-enus are not like those of Inia. but like those o * In his memoir upon Inia quoted above. T Proc. Zool. Soc., 1867, p. 484. ANOMALOUS DOLPHINS 303 of dolphins, that is to say, the single-headed ribs suddenly begin, they lose their capitular attachment, and have only the tubercular ; there is no fusion between the two heads, as in Inia. \But other examples among the Cetacea (cf. Kogia and Physeter) teach us that this is not a difference of first-rate importance. Burmeister states that there are four ribs, i.e., four pairs with a double attachment to the vertebral column. The scapula of this dolphin is normal in the origin of the acromion, as in Cetacea generally, but not as in Platanista. Four pairs of ribs appear to join the sternum, of which the last pair, however, are attached by a ligament only. The sternal ribs in front of this seem to be ossified. Burmeister distinctly states that they are. The skull of Pontoporia is very symmetrical as compared with other dolphins. Its surface is very flat — not rido-ed behind the nares like that of Inia. O The palatines, moreover, do not cover the vomer, a point of likeness to Inia. The symphysis of the mandible is long, and the teeth are estimated by Sir W. Flower to be as many as 221 in all. Pontoporia blainvillii, Gervais. 'k As there is, so far as we know, but a single species of this dolphin- like Platanistid, it is unnecessary — and indeed im- possible— to give it a satisfactory definition. The colour was stated by M. de Freminville, who brought home the original skull upon which the genus and * Bull. Soc. Philom., 1844, p. 39. 304 A BOOK OF WHALES the species were founded, to be white with a black dorsal band. D'Orbigny described another dolphin which he thought, but without any evidence, to be the same species ; as this evidence is wanting it will be unnecessary to repeat his description. Mr. Lyclekker, on the other hand, has described it as a palish brown, harmonising with the brown-coloured water of the estuary of the Amazons and the Rio de la Plata. EXTINCT PLATANISTIDS More generic types have been described as be- longing to this group of the Cetacea than to any other. And it is furthermore remarkable as being the only existing group that goes back to the far past of the Eocene period ; indeed, apart from the Zeuglodonts these whales are the only ones that have so ancient a history. But, as is so often the case, their remains are for the most part fragmentary, and not much of great importance has been or apparently can be deduced from their study. The restricted range of the existing Platanistidae is in interesting harmony with the great antiquity of the race ; it is so often the case that a rapidly dwindling group of animals consists of existing forms which occupy very limited areas ; it is as if the long continuance of the types in question had rendered them partially effete and unable to cope with changed conditions and new forms allied to themselves ; in order to survive they have had to creep into corners where the tide of EXTINCT PLATANISTIDS 305 Cetacean life does not enter. It is often held that the original terrestrial ancestors of the whales gradually adopted the marine life by first taking to rivers and then gradually passing through estuaries to the sea. It is alleged that these very Platanistids, being largely fresh water in range themselves, furnish such a proof of the way in which the ancestors of the whales changed to an aquatic from a land life. For they present, as has been pointed out, certain archaic points of structure, and are fresh water in habitat. There is, however, no a priori reason why the original whale should not have boldly plunged into salt water at once without gradually accustoming himself to the change. For we have the sea otter as an instance of a land animal frequenting the waters of the sea. And, furthermore, the remains of extinct Platanistids are from definitely marine strata. The question, indeed, is one upon which guesses alone are possible. Seeing that the Platanistids (represented at any rate by the genus Iniopsis) go back as far in time as the Zeuglodonts, we might expect to find some approximation in structure between these two tribes, nearer than that which obtains between the Zeuglo- donts and others. There are, however, so few apparent points at which the two groups touch that it seems necessary to look upon the two as in- dependently evolved from some more ancient form, and to regard the Zeuglodont type as having culminated in the later Squalodonts (see p. 307) and then to have become extinct. There are, however, 306 A BOOK OF -WHALES two genera assigned by Cope* to the Platanistids which approach Zeuglodon in one point, and that is in the length of the cervical vertebrae ; these are Zarrhachis and Priscodelphinus. This character, however, as it seems to us, is rather one that betokens antiquity than one which points in any particular direction. The general tendency of whales of every group to lose their teeth is exhibited in these old Platanistidae ; the genus Rhabdosteus has teeth at the base of the maxillary only ; in Agabelus the teeth seem to have entirely vanished, leaving only an alveolar groove, which may, perhaps, have contained rudimentary teeth like those now found in the upper jaw of Physeter and the Ziphioids. Some other facts dealing with fossil members of this group will be found at p. 209. * "The Cetacea," American Naturalist, 1890, p. 599. CHAPTER XII. ZEUGLODONTS AND THEIR ALLIES FAMILY, SQUALODONTIDAE THIS family, consisting entirely of extinct forms, may be thus defined : Teeth in both jaws specialised into incisors, canines, pre-molars, and molars. Skull, dolphin-like. These whales, whose remains are known from the Miocene and Pliocene of Europe, America, and Australia, form a connecting link between the Zeuglo- donts (with which group they have been united) and the modern Odontocetes. Like the Zeuglodonts the teeth are specialised ; and, moreover, the molars have a coarsely serrate cutting edge like the Zeuglodont tooth, but the serrations are confined to one side. The teeth too are more numerous, though some of them are two-rooted as in Zeuglodon. The archaic characters of the Squalodontidae are also shown by the fact that a number of the teeth of the upper jaw are borne by the pre-maxilla. The skull, however, apart from this feature, is not archaic, and the rudimentary nasals of modern Cetaceans have been acquired. In Prosqualodon, however, this 3°7 308 A BOOK OF -WHALES process has not been fully completed, and there are small nasals which just project over the nasal vacuities. The symphysis of the mandible of Squalodon is very long, thus recalling the Platanistids and Physeter. These whales, which did not exceed some thirty feet in length, have been divided into numerous genera ; but as little is known of the skeleton this proceeding is at present rather premature. Cope, however, allows another genus in addition to those mentioned, and that is Trirhizodon, characterised by the fact that some of the molars are three-rooted. ARCH&OCETI This, the last of the three divisions of whales, embraces only a single family, and, so far as can be said with certainty, only a single genus, Zeuglodon. It is usually regarded as an assemblage equivalent to either of the other groups, and this view will be followed here. But the differences in structure might fairly be considered as entitling it to a more isolated position among the Cetacea. Nevertheless, there is no question of the Cetaceous nature of Zeuglodon. It is quite possible, however, that the Zeuglodonts are the ancestral group from which both Odontoceti and Mystacoceti have been derived. But this view, a very general one, cannot be elaborated in detail ; we shall simply find an example of what is so dis- appointingly general when an attempt is made to trace pedigrees in animals. ZEUGLODONTS 309 The Archaeoceti are toothed whales ; but, whereas in the Odontocetes the teeth are all alike (with merely difference in size), the teeth of the present group are like those of more typical mammals, in being dis- tinctly separable into three series. There are three incisors on each side of each jaw, and those of the upper jaw are borne by the pre-maxillae, the bone which bears the incisors in mammals generally ; behind the junction of the pre-maxilla with the maxilla is a definite canine, and behind this again five teeth, which are no doubt both molars and pre-molars, though there is no positive evidence of a double dentition in the Zeuglodonts. It will be noted too that the total number of teeth (thirty-six) is that of many mammals. The skull is elongated like that of whales in o general ; and, as in other whales, the snout is long. The frontal bones come down over the orbit as in all whales ; but the nasals are long and, ordinarily, mammalian. The result of this latter arrangement is that the blow hole was in the middle of the snout instead of at its base, as in all whales except Pkyseter, where, it will be remembered, there is a canal embedded in the soft tissues of the head leading to the extremity of the snout. It is the whalebone whales among living Cetacea which have best pre- served the form of the nasal bones of Zeuglodon. Other bones of the skull besides the nasals are not upon the Cetacean plan. The pre-maxillae take a large share, as has been already implied, in the formation of the gape. The parietals, which in 3io A BOOK OF WHALES existing whales have no lot or part in forming the top of the skull, meet in these ancient whale-like creatures to form a sagittal crest upon the vertex. The cervical vertebrae, as in the ancient Platanistidae and in a few only of other existing Cetacea, are separate ; they are, moreover, not compressed antero- posteriorly as are those of recent whales, but are not different in length from the succeeding vertebrae. The scapula is not typically Cetaceous, since it has but a small coracoid process and a large acromion. The ribs are double-headed, like the anterior series of the toothed whales. The sternum too is con- structed upon the plan that characterises the Odonto- ceti, being composed of several pieces. If the Archaeoceti are the most primitive of whales, it must be among them that the clue to the relation- ship of the whales will be found. This is a topic, however, about which more has been written than ascertained. The only view that demands a notice here (for we cannot, of course, accept any Ichthyo- saurian descent for these animals) is the opinion held by one or two persons that the Zeuglodonts are most nearly related to seals. The facts upon which these comparisons have been based are principally the characters of the teeth, the long neck — "like that of a seal in proportions" -the scapula without the typical whale-like form. All these points are just so far seal-like as they are generalised characters. All mammals except the Cetacea, and to a less extent the Sirenia, have moderately long cer- vical vertebrae. Included in this series are, of course, ZEUGLODONTS 311 the seals. It is likely that whales have been derived from animals with this more typical mammalian arrangement. There is certainly one family only, and probably but a single genus of this group of whales. The remains of this have been found in many parts of the world, .indicating that its distribution was like that of most Cetacea of the present day, wide. This genus was one of the great whales, and reached a length of certainly seventy feet. The best known species is Zeuglodon cetoides. But in spite of the abundance of its remains no complete skeleton has ever been got too-ether. o INDEX (The numbers printed in heavy type indicate the page where a full description of the Family, Genus, or Species will be found.) Aelfric, Abbot of Ensham, 1 1 3 Aelian, 170 Aepyornis, 3 Aflalo, Mr., 203 Agabelus, 306 Agaphelidae, 119 Agaphelus, 120, 121, 169 A. gibbosus, 121 Agassiz, Prof., 301 Ahlborn, Prof., 12 Albrecht, Prof., 100, 101, 102, 103 Alfred, King, 2, 112 Ambergris, 197 Amphiptera pacifica, 144 Anderson, Dr. J., 295, 296 Anteater, 42 Aodon, 217 A. dalei, 211, 216 Archaeoceti, 106, 308 Archteopteryx, 8 Argyrocetus patagonicus, 209 Armadillo, 30, 32, 33, 38 Aurivillius, Prof., 213 Austen, Mr. E. E., 300 Babyrusa, 29 Bacon, Francis, 251 Baer, K. V., 35 Baker's Chronicle, no Bakena, 120, 121, 122, 141, 145, 150, 152, 163, 171 B. alutiensis, 133 Balnsna angulata, 133 B. antarctica, 133, 164 B. antipodarum, 133 B. australis, 6, 45, 118, 124, 125, 126, 127, 129, 133 B. biscayensis, 6, 123, 133 B. boops, 164, 167 B. capensis, 133 B. cisarctica, 133 B. cullamacha, 133 B. eubakena, 133 B. japonica, 133, 135 B. kuliomoch, 133 B. lalandii, 164 B. mediterranea, 133 B. mysticetus, 24, 27, 61, 76, 123, 126, 135, 137 B. nordcaper, 133 B. poeskop, 164 B. sieboldi, 129, 133 B. tarentina, 133 Bakenidae, 118, 119, 121, 144 Balrenoidea, 119 Balrenoptera, i, 2, 26, 109, 120, 121, 123, 144, 145, 162, 163, 164, 168, 169, 171, i?9> l83> 213, 271 B. australis, 161 B. borealis, 24, 28, 145, 14?) X48> 149, 154 B. capensis, 164 B. davidsoni, 159, 160 312 INDEX 3T3 Balcenoptera indica, 159 B. jubartes, 167 B. laticeps, 154 B. latirostris, 153 15. leucopteron, 164 B. musculus, 23, 24, 27, 41, 61, 147, 148, 149, IS', 'S3, i56, 157, 161, 162, 163, 167 B. patachonica, 159 B. physalus, 157 B. rorqual, 157 B. rostrata, 24, 76, 125, 147, 149, 151, 154, 156, 159, 245 B. schlegelii, 159 B. sibbaldii, i, 46, 102, 119, 142, 146, 147, 148, 149, 151, 153, 155, 156, 159, 167 B. sulphureus, 159, 160 Baltenopteridae, 118, 119, 144, 173 Batenopteroidea, 119 Bates, Mr. H. W., 300, 301 Beale, Mr., 202 Beauregard, M., 200 Beaver, 10 Beardsworth, Rev. G., 228 Bell, Mr. T., 205 Belon, 80, 275 Beneden, Prof, v., 43, 51, 108, 125, 147, 151, 158, 165, 168, 183, 198, 234, 241, 247, 270, 295 Benedenia, 145 Beluga, 6, 19, 27, 61, 69, 70, 149, 223, 231, 238, 241, 244, 297, 300 Berardius, 43, 44, 62, 70, 174, 183, 211, 213, 214, 216, 220, 228 B. arnouxi, 220, 228 B. bairdi, 233 B. vegae, 233 Blainville, M. de, 299 Blanford, Dr. W. T., 269 Blow hole, 33, 272 Bonnet of whale, 136 Bottlenose, 224 Bouto, 300 Bouvier, M., 224, 227 Bowhead, 129, 130 Boyle, Hon. R., 198 Brain, 77 Brown, Mr. J. R., in Brown, Dr. R., 249 Brown, Sir Thomas, 199 Burmeister, Dr., 251, 302, 303 Caa'ing whale, 107, 280 Cachalot, 15, 45, 71, 102, 173, 184, 185, 222, 245 Caius, Dr., 250 Callidon guentheri, 220 Californian whale, 7, in, 129, 144, 169, 287 Callignathus, 187, 189 Caperea, 124, 126 C. antipodarum, 143 Carcharias, 3 Carcharodon, 3 Carrington, Mr., 155 Carte, Dr., 156 Catodon australis, 199 C. colneti, 199 C. sibbaldii, 244 Caton, Mr. J. D., 170 Cephalorhynchus, 243, 277 C. albifrons, 279 C. eutropia, 279 C. heavisidii, 278, 279 C. hectori, 278, 279 Ceratodus, 88 Chaves, M., 200, 201 Choloepus, 44 Christy, Mr., 247 Clymene dorides, 260 C. punctata, 260 Clymenia, 263 C. euphrosynoides, 260 C. normalis, 261 Collett, Dr., 28, 150, 152, 154, 155, 156 Cope, Prof., 171, 251, 291, 306, 308 INDEX Couch, Mr., 15 Crocodile, 10, 34 Crustacea, 154 Cuvier, Frederick, 76, 152, 268, 275, 290 Cuvier, Georges, 76 Cuvierius, 146 Dauphin rhinoceros, 15 Delage, Prof., 26, 41, 148, 157, 162 Delphinapterus, 14, 69, 231, 242 D. balteatus, 254 D. beluga, 244 D. leucas, 244 Delphinidae, 14, 181, 237 Delphinopsis freyeri, 33 Delphinorhynchus, 211 D. micropterus, 216 Uelphinus, 43, 243, 253, 259 D. albicans, 244 D. albimanus, 254 D. algeriensis, 254 D. alope, 261 D. amazonicus, 299 D. bairdii, 254 D. bredanensis, 273 D. canadensis, 244 D. capensis, 258, 278 D. cephalorhynchus, 278 D. clymene, 261 D. coronatus, 237 D. cruciger, 264 D. cymodice, 276 D. deductor, 288 D. delphis, 240, 253, 254, 255 D. desmarestii, 234 D. doris, 261 D. eschrichtii, 265 D. eurynome, 276 D. forsteri, 254 D. fraenatus, 261 D. frontalis, 261 D. frontatus, 273 D. fulvofasciatus, 254 Delphinus fuscus 254 D. fusiformis, 264 D. geoffroyi, 299 D. gervaisi, 217 D. globiceps, 281 D. hastatus, 278 D. intermedius, 281 D. janira, 254 D. kingii, 244 D. leucopleurus, 265 D. longirostris, 257 D. major, 254 D. marginatus, 254 D. metis, 276 D. microps, 261 D. minimus, i D. moorei, 254 D. moschatus, 254 D. novae zelandiae, 254 D. pernettyi, 273 D. philippii, 234 D. planiceps, 273 D. pomeegra, 254 D. pseudodelphis, 260 D. reinwardti, 273 D. rhinodon, 244 D. roseiventris, 258 D. souverbianus, 254 D. souverbiensis, 216 D. souwerbii, 216 D. stenorhynchus, 261 D. styx, 260 D. tethyos, 260 D. truncatus, 276 D. variegatus, 254 D. walkeri, 254 Desmarest, 269 Dermal skeleton, 31 Dinosaurs, i, 3, 230 Dolichodon traversii, 220 Dolphin, 14, 15 Dorsal fin, 13, 144 Dryden, 131 Dudley, Hon. Paul, 288 INDEX Dugong, 29, 39, 47, 65, 90, 91, 93 Dussumier, 269 Duvernoy, 229 Echidna, 96, 103 Edentata, 33, 75, 89, 97, 148 Electra clancula, 279 E. obtusa, 264 Elephant, 29 Elliot, Sir W., 189 Epiodon urganantus, 233 Eschricht, 46, 151, 286 Eubakena, 124, 126 E. australis, 136 E. sieboldii, 136 Euphysetes, 191, 192 E. macleayi, 188, 189 E. pottsi, 192 Eurhinodelphis, 50, 51 Eutropia dickei, 279 Evelyn, John, 108 Fabyan's Chronicle, no Fairholm, Mr., 257 Feresa, 292 F. intermedia, 292 F. attenuatus, 292 Fischer, M., 84, 137, 138, 139, 227, 233, 246, 255 Flower, Sir W. H., 24, 81, 123, 125, 132, 135, M2, 144, 145, H9, 155, 164, 177, 180, 181, 182, 184, 192, 194, 195, 196, 200, 210, 213, 214, 2l6, 219, 220, 222, 223, 230, 231, 239, 240, 241, 244, 255, 262, 268, 269, 274, 275, 276, 278, 279, 285, 289, 292, 293, 297, 302, 303 Flowerius, 145 Frangius, 288 Freminville, 237, 303 Friend, Rev. H., 300 Gadamu, 269 Gaimard, 14 Geoffrey St. Hilaire, 76 Gervais, 5, 43, 51, 162, 165, 178, 295 Giglioli, Prof., 144 Gill, Dr., 187, 189, 190 Globicephalus, 60, 61, 125, 173, 242, 243, 280 G. affinis, 281 G. brachypterus, 282 G. edwardsi, 281 G. incrassatus, 281 G. indicus, 283 G. macrorhynchus, 283 G. melas, 286 G. propinquus, 281 G. scammoni, 282 G. sieboldi, 283 G. svineval, 281 Globiceps, 292 Goeldi, Dr., 270 Goldsmith, Oliver, 254 Gorilla, 78 Gbsse, Mr. P. H., 211 " Grampus," 286 Grampus, 61, 69, 70, 242, 243, 284, 292 G. chinensis, 285 G. cuvieri, 285 G. griseus, 285 G. rissoanus, 285 G. sakamata, 285 G. souverbianus, 285 G. stearnsi, 285 Gray, Capt. D., 131, 132, 223, 224 Gray, Dr. J. E., 8, 15, 31, 39, 118, 119, 120, 121, 123, 124, 125, 134, 136, 141, 146, 155, 165, 167, 169, 189, 191, 192, 204, 206, 218, 238, 239, 250, 258, 264, 289, 293 Greenland whale, 4, 6, 71, 76, 84, 120, 122, 124, 134, 135, 150, 159, 163, 173, 193,231 Grieg, Dr., 219 Guldberg, Dr., 134, 135, 167 INDEX Haast, Sir J. v., 161, 192, 219, 229 Hairy covering, 27 Hakluyt, 112 Halicore, 90, 91 Haswell, Prof., 97 Hector, Sir J., 142, 219, 229 Heddle, Dr., 157 High-firmed cachalot, 200, 205, 206 Hind limb, 24 Hippopotamus, 29, 30, 34, 78 Holinshed's Chronicle, 109 Howes, Prof. G. B., 101 Hump-backed whale, 35, 164 Hudson, Mr. W. H., 300 Hunt, Rev. W., no, 113 Hunter, John, 157, 233 Hunterius, 124 H. swedenborgii, 133 H. temminckii, 125, 133, 169 Huxley, Prof., 122 Hyperoodon, 43, 52, 62, 63, 181, 183, 211, 212, 213, 214, 216, 221, 231, 232, 234, 236 H. borealis, 222 H. butzkopff, 222 H. cloumetii, 234 H. gervaisii, 234 H. planifrons, 232 H. rostratum, 222, 223 H. semijunctus, 234 Ichthyosauria, 20 Ichthyosaurus, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 1 6, 21 Inia, 6, 40, 41, 43, 69, 72, 88, 94, 142, 174, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 222, 271, 293, 294, 296, 3°2, 303 I. boliviensis, 299 I. geoffrensis, 74, 180, 299 Iniopsis, 305 I caucasica, 174 John, King, 135 Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 82, 199 Johnson, T., 82 Kogia, 50, 141, 173, 176, 177, 178, 184, 185, 208, 222, 303 K. breviceps, 187, 188, 190, 191 K. floweri, 187, 190 K. grayi, 187, 189, 191, 192 K. macleayi, 187 K. pottsi, 172, 187, 192 K. simus, 182, 184, 185, 187, 189, 191 Krefft, Dr. G., 189 Kukenthal, Dr. W., 10, 13, 21, 28, 3i, 32, 33. 35, 73, 74, 76, 77, 87,92,93, H9, IS'. 181, 227 Lacepede, 167, 206, 207, 245, 246, 248, 254 Lagenocetus, 222 Lagenorhynchus, 243, 262, 292 L. acutus, 255, 263 L. albirostris, 265 L. asia, 264 L. clanculus, 264 L. electra, 264 L. fitzroyi, 264 L. floweri, 267 L. obliquidens, 266 L. obscurus, 263 L. superciliosus, 263 L. thicolea, 263 Leucorhamphus, 284 Leviathan, 201 Linnaeus, 268 Lungs, 51 Liitken, Dr., 266, 277 Lydekker, Mr. R., 75, 123, 142, 158, 1 66, 175, 209, 217, 247, 304 Macalister, Prof. A., 156 Macleayius, 124 M. australis, 133 M. britannicus, 133, 134 Malm, Dr., 168, 233 INDEX Mammoth, 29 Manatee, 9, 21, 22, 29, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 47, 56, 59, 64, 65, 72, 89, 9'» 93. i79> 299 Manatus, 90, 91 M. inunguis, 22, 93 M. latirostris, 92 Marco Polo, 203 Markham, Sir C., 138, 139 Marmoset, 78 Marsupials, 75, 106 Mastodon, 3 Meganeuron, 192 Megaptera, 4, 53, 144, 151, 161, 169, 173 M. americana, 164 M. burmeisteri,. 164 M. indica, 5, 162 M. kuzira, 164 M. lalandii, 165 M. longimana, 164 M. novae zelandiae, 164 M. osphyia, 164 M. versabilis, 164 Megapteridae, 119 Mesoplodon, 45, 62, 70, 211, 213, 228, 230, 231, 232, 236, 237 M. australis, 215, 216, 219, 221 M. bidens, 62, 63, 211, 215, 216, 218, 219, 228 M. densirostris, 215, 218, 219 M. europaeus, 217 M. floweri, 220 M. grayi, 211, 215, 216, 218, 221 M. haasti, 221 M. hectori, 214, 219, 220 M. knoxii, 220 M. layardi, 74, 215, 216, 220 M. sowerbiensis, 216 M. stejnegeri, 221 Mesoteras, 171 Micropteron bidens, 216 Mimes-Marshall, Prof., 3 Mivart, Dr., 88 Moebius, Dr., 135 Molagan, 253 Monaco, H.H. the Prince of, 287 Mongitore, 15 Monodon, 6, 13, 27, 61,64, 7°> J79> 242, 243, 246, 297 M. andersonianus, 247 M. microcephalus, 247 M. monoceros, 247 Moreno, Dr., 267 Mosasaurians, 230 Moseley, Prof., 35 M tiller, Dr., 48, 54 Miiller, Johannes, 33 Muller, O. F., 223 Muller, Mr. H. C., 281 Murie, Dr., 7, 14, 103, 151, 157, 158 Murray, Mr., 253 Mystacoceti, 46, 68, 106, 117, 118, 172, 173, 174, 308 Narwalus vulgaris, 267 Narwhal, 27, 49, 61, 70, 74, 172, 238, 241, 245,246 Nearchus, 107 Neobalaena, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 141, 173, i79> 1 80 N. marginata, 141, 143 Neomeris, 14, 32, 243, 252 N. kurrachiensis, 253 N. phocaenoides, 31, 252 Neoziphius, 218 Octher, 2, 112 Odontoceti, 52, 68, 69, 106, 117, 172 Ogmobalaena, 145 Olafsen, 152 Olaus Magnus, 2, 34, Si, 107, 198, 204 Ommatophoca, 87 Orbigny, Alcide d', 304 Orca, 4, 14, 66, 82, no, 205, 206, 237, 243, 256, 286, 290, 292 O. duhameli, 289 O. gladiator, 176, 289 INDEX Orca minor, 289 O. schlegelii, 289 Orcella, 50, 61, 243, 290 O. brevirostris, 291 O. fluminalis, 291 Ornithorhynchus, 83, 96, 103 Osbeck, 268 Ostend whale, 154 Otaria jubata, 86, 88 O. pusilla, 86 Otter, 29, 55, 56 Oulodon, 219 Owen, Sir R., 184, 185, 186, 189, 190, 191, 253 Pare, Ambroise, 139 Paris, Mathew, no Parona, Prof., Parker, Prof. T. J., 213, 233 Pectoral fin, 216 Perrin, Ur. J. B., 156 Petrorhynchus capensis, 234 Phoca, 87 P. vitulina, 88 Phocaena, 243, 249, 278, 291 P. brachycium, 251 P. communis, 9, 22, 32, 74, 249, 251, 259 P. dallii, 252 P. lineata, 257 P. pectoralis, 264 P. spinipennis, 31, 32, 251 P. tuberculifera, 31, 250 P. vomerina, 251 Physalus, 145 P. antiquorum, 157 P. duguidi, 157 Physalidae, 119 Physeter, 34, 38, 43, 50, 141, 173, 177, 178, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 1 88, 190, 192, 213, 222, 303, 3°6, 308, 309 P. catodon, 199 P. gibbosus, 199 P. macrocephalus, 199 Physeter microps, 208 P. mular, 206 P. polyclystus, 199 P. polycyphus, 199 P. simus, 189 P. trumpo, 199 P. tursio, 204, 205 Physeteridae, 181, 182, 298 Physodon, 208 Platanista, 6, 40, 42, 52, 53, 61, 72, 165, 179, 242, 245, 293, 294, 297, 299 P. gangetica, 295 Platanistidae, 6, 38, 40, 176, 181, 193, 293, 308 Platypus, 10, 83, 96 Plesiocetus, 171 P. brialmonti, 171 P. cuvieri, 171 Plesiosaurs, 47 Pliny, 2, 31, 205, 275 Poggy, 13° Pontistes, 174 Pontoporia, i, 61, 180, i8t, 209, 293, 296, 297, 301 P. blainvillii, 303 Porpoise, 7, 9, 31, 32, 45, 59, 60, 64, 101, 125, 237, 249, 257 Potamogale, 10 Pouchet, Prof., 4, 108, 200, 201 Povelsen, 152 Priodon, 72 Priscodelphinus, 306 Prodelphinus, 243, 258, 263 P. attenuatus, 260 P. coeruleo-albus, 260 P. euphrosyne, 260 P. fhenatus, 261 P. lateralis, 261 P. longirostris, 262 P. malayanus, 259 P. plagiodon, 259 Prosqualodon, 307 Pseudorca, 243, 290 P. crassidens, 290 INDEX Pseudorca meridionalis, 290 Pterobahena, 145 Pygmy Sperm whale, 184, 186 Quoy, 14 Rafinesque, 233 Rapp, 35 Ray, 1 1 Reeves, Hon. Pember, 112 Rhabdosteus, 306 Rhachianectes, 119, 120, 121, 125, 144, 151, 152, 155, 159, 168 R. glaucus, 169 Rhinoceros, 29, 78 Rhinodon, 3 Rhytina, 40, 41, 47, 90, 91, 94 R. gigas, 47 Right whale, 24, 25, 38, 39, 46, 53, 102, 117, 150, 155, 174 Risso's dolphin, 285 Rodentia, 104, 105, 106 Rondeletius, 139 Rorqual, 38, 45, 46, 53, 60, Si, 102, 1 08, 1 1 8, 122, 144 Roy's Hunchback, 130 Rudolphi's Rorqual, 154 Rudolphius, 145 Ruminant's stomach, 59, 64, 99 Sagmatias, 291 S. amblodon, 291 Scaliger, J. C., Si, 255 Scammon, Capt., So, in, 114, 121, 128,129, 130, 131,136,159,164, 165, 1 66, 170, 200, 203, 204, 266, 282, 287 Schlegel, 259 Schreber, 258 Scoresby, 7, 16, 127, 128, 129, 248, 249 Scott, Prof., 213, 233 Sea Canary, 245 Sea-lion, 21, 29, 67, 86, 88, 89 Sea-snakes, 10 Seal, 10, 21, 29, 55, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 1 06 Semon, Dr., 90 Shape of whales, 5 Shark, 12, 13 Shoulder girdle, 53 Sibbald, Sir R., 153, 205 Sibbaldius, 145 Sirenia, 21, 22, 29, 38, 39, 41, 47, 90, 92, 94, 143, 179, 298, 299, 310 Size of whales, i Skate, 20 Skull, 48 Sloth, 3, 37, 42, 44, 59, 75 Sotalia, 243, 26?, 273, 300 S. brasiliensis, 270 S. fluviatilis, 270, 271 S. gadamu, 269 S. guianensis, 270 S. lentiginosa, 269 S. pallida, 267, 270, 271 S. plumbea, 267, 268 S. teiiszii, 268, 271 S. tucuxi, 270, 271 S. sinensis, 267, 288, 272, 310 Southwell, Mr., 84, 115 Spencer, Edmund, 290 Sperm whale, 6, 14, 34, 40, 45, 49, 53, 107, 108, 109, 1 10, 113, 173, 176, 181, 185 Squalodon, 308 Squalodontidae, 307 Squalodonts, 305 Steller's Sea-cow, 47, 90 Steno, 209, 243, 258, 269, 272, 299 S. capensis, 260 S. compressus, 273 S. perniger, 269 S. perspicillatus, 272, 273 S. rostratus, 272, 273 Stenodelphis, 180, 301 Sternum, 42 Stillman, Dr., 160 Stomach, 58 320 INDEX Stowe's "London," no Struthers, Sir J., 148, 162, 242 Sulphur-bottom, 160, 161 Susu, 296 Tachynices megacephalus, 247 Tail flukes, 7 Teeth, 68 Thomas, Mr. Oldfield, 75, 291 Toothless whale of Havre, 211 Trirhizodon, 308 True, Mr., 241, 242, 244, 256, 258, 259, 262, 263, 270, 274, 275, 276, 278, 279, 289, 291 Turner, Sir W., 46, 80, 148, 151, 153, 156, 159, 208, 213, 223, 227 Tursio, 243, 259, 284 T. borealis, 284 T. dorcides, 260 T. peronii, 284 Tursiops, 243, 273 T. abusalam, 274, 276 T. catalania, 274, 276, 277 T. gillii, 277 T. parvimanus, 277 T. tursio, 274, 275 Ungulata, 104, 105 Vertebral column, 37 Wall, Mr., 196 Walrus, 29, 85, 88, 1 10, 288 Watson, Prof., 242 Weber, Prof., 101, 103 Whalebone, 80 Whales compared to Seals, 85 Whales compared to Sirenia, 90 Whales, Classification of, 95 Whales, Hunting of, 107 White whale, 244, 288 Wormius, 247 Young, Prof., 242 Yule, Capt., 115 Zarrhachis, 306 Zeuglodon, 77, 306, 307, 308 Z. cetoides, 311 Zeuglodonts, 31, 51, 52, 73, 74, 174, 1 80, 304, 305, 307, 308. Ziphioids, 63, 64, 76, 71, 102, 151, 172, 173, 174, 178, 181, 182,184, 193, 201, 207, 220, 238, 292, 306 Ziphius, 62, 213, 214, 216, 221, 233 Z. australis, 234 Z. cavirostris, 233 Z. chathamensis, 234 Z. grebnitzkii, 234 Z. indicus, 234 Z. novae-zelandiae, 234, 235, 236 Z. seychellensis, 218 Ziphiorhynchus cryptodon, 234 Zittel, Prof., 94 PLYMOUTH WILLIAM BRE.NDON AND SON, PRINTERS.