SPERM WHALES ABUNDANCE AND HABITS. 9 



A Sperm Whale came ashore in IOCS in Casco Bay, and the circumstance seems uot to have 

 been regarded as unusual in those days. 1 



A person writing in 1741 discourses as follows: "Some Years since, there stranded on the 

 Coast of New England a dead Whale, of the Sort which, in the Fishers Language, is called Trnmpo, 

 having Teeth like those ot a Mill; it's Mouth at a good Distance from and under the Nose, and 

 several Partitions in the Nose, out of which ran a thin oily Substance that candy'd, the Eeinaiuder 

 being a thick fat Substance, being scraped out, was said to be the Sperma Ceti ; it was said so, and 

 I believe that was all. Whales were often caught formerly between New-England and New-York, 

 and if the Sperma Ceti had really been in the Nose of that, it must have been more common, and 

 more cheap, than Experience tells us, it has been even since this Discovery, and at this present 

 time. As to the Whale Fishery, 'tis now almost as much a Earity in New as Old England; the 

 Fishery of Cod is at this time very great here, tho' still far short of that of Newfoundland." 2 



OCCURRENCE ON THE COAST OP EUROPE. In the Eastern Atlantic, also, the occurrence of 

 this species has been by no means unusual. Fleming, in "British Animals," 1828, states that "the 

 Spermaceti Whale often comes ashore in Orkney." 3 In 1788, twelve males ran ashore in the Eng- 

 lish Channel.' 1 Other instances of their stranding on the English coast occurred in February, 1089, 5 

 1795, 6 17GG', 7 February 1C, 1829, 8 in 1825, 9 and 1863, 10 while others were obtained on the coast of . 

 Brittany in 17S4, 11 and in the Mediterranean, at St. Nazaire, in 185G, 12 and on other occasions for 

 which dates are not given. 



OCCURRENCE ON THE CALIFORNIA COAST. Although Sperm Whales have occasionally been 

 taken off the California coast for the past thirty years, it would appear that tew have been seen in 

 those waters since 1874. Captain Scaminon has cited in his book no instances ot individuals per- 

 sonally observed by him. 



SIZE AND COLOR. The sexes difi'er greatly in size and form, the female being slenderer and 

 from one-fifth (Beale) to one-third or one-fourth (Scaminou) as large as the male. The largest 

 males measure from eighty to eighty-four feet in length, the head making up about oue-thirdof the 

 whole. In the head is the cavity known as the "case," from which is obtained the spermaceti and 

 a quantity of oil. The youngest Sperm Whale on record is the one measuring sixteen feet, already 

 mentioned as having been taken near New Bedford in 1842; its weight was ;>,05.'] pounds. 



The Sperm Whale is black or brownish-black, lighter on the sides, gray OH the breast. When 

 old it is gray about the nose and top of the head. 



HABITS OP ASSOCIATION, MOTION, BLOWING, ETC. Sperm Whales are gregarious and are 

 often seen in large schools, which are, according to Beale, of two kinds, (1) of females accompanied 

 by the young and one or two adult males, (2) of the young and half-grown males; the adult males 

 always go singly. Their manner of motion is well described by Scarninon as follows: 



'In 1663 a Spermaceti Whale of 55 foot long was cast up in Winter Harbor, near Casco Bay. The like hath hap- 

 pened in othtT places of the country at several times, when, for want of skill to improve it, much gain lialh slipped 

 out of the hands of the finders. Hnbbard's History of New England, From the Discovery to 1680. Boston, 1848, p. 642. 



a British Empire in Anii-rira. London, 1741, vol. i, pp. 188-189. 



'FLEMING: British Animals, 1828, p. 29. 



<GKAY: Catalogue of Seals and Whales, 1866, p. 203. 



6 SlBBAH>: Plialiiinolniria, 177;!, p. 3:!, pi. 1. 



"MOLYXEUX: Phil. Trans., xix, 1795, p. 508. 



'RUTTY: fide Gray, op. cit. 



MIi-NTEK and WOODS: Mag. Nat. Hist., ii, 1829, p. 197. 



9 Tno.MPSON: Mag. Nat. Hist., ii, 1827, p. 477. 

 1" G KAY: op. cit., p. 204. 



" BI.AINVILLE : Ann. fr. et etr. d'Anatomie et de Physiologic, ii, p. 235. 



"GEUVAIS: Comptes-Rendus, 1864, p. 876. 



