14 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



Captain Cook thinks that these are the marks of the teeth made by the animals in playing with 

 each other. It attains the length of fifteen or twenty feet, but is slenderer than the Blackfish. Its 

 jaws are esteemed by the makers of fine oil. 



HABITS. Regarding this species, Captain Cook writes: "About the same time that the Black- 

 fish made their appearance in our waters, there was another of the whale kind made tlu-ir appear- 

 ance also, called by the fishermen Cowfish. These whales are very much in shape of the Blackfish, 

 ouly smaller, not so fat, and not so dark colored. These fish have only made their appearance in 

 our waters three or four times for the last forty years, or about once in ten years. Probably not 

 more than fifty have been taken in this period. The method of taking them is the same* as that used 

 for Blackfish." 



Several specimens, old and young, were obtained by the Fish Commission in 1875, November 

 29, November 30, and December 2. and their casts are in the National Museum. That this animal 

 was known to the early colonists of New England appears probable from allusions in the early 

 records. 1 



PRODUCTS. The oil of the Cowfish, particularly that of its jaws, is highly prized, though prob- 

 ably no better than that of the Blackfish. The "Barnstable Patriot" of November 7, 1828, has this 

 item: "A quantity of oil from the Grampus lately caught at Harpswell has been sold at Bath at 

 $18 per barrel." It is very possible, however, that the Barnstable people of 1828 designate the 

 Blackfish and the Grampus by the same name. Douglass' "North America," published in 1755, 

 remarks : "Blackfish, i. e. Grampus, of six to ten barrels oil, Bottlenose of three or four barrels, may 

 (like sheep) be drove ashore by boats." 



THE CALIFORNIA GRAMPUS. On the California coast occurs the Whiteheaded or Mottled 

 Grampus, G. Stearnsii Dall, described by Scammon as growing to the average length of ten feet. 

 "They are gregarious," he writes, " and congregate frequently in large schools; at times two or 

 three, or even a solitary individual will be met with, wandering about the coast or up the bays in 

 quest of food, which consists of fish and several varieties of crustaceans. It is rarely taken, as it is 

 extremely shy." He refers also to four other forms, unknown to zoologists, but familiar to whale- 

 men: chief among these is the " Bottleuose," which grows to be twenty-five feet long, and has 

 occasionally been taken, though with much difficulty owing to its great strength and speed. Its 

 oil is reputed to be equal in quality to that of the Sperm Whale. 



4. THE HARBOR PORPOISES OR HERRING HOGS. 



DISTRIBUTION. On tho Atlantic coast occurs most abundantly the little Harbor Porpoise, 

 Phoccena brachycion Cope, known to the fishermen as "Puffer," "Snuffer," "Snuffing Pig," or 

 "Herring Hog." The Bay Porpoise of California, P. vomerina Gill, and the Common Porpoise or 

 Marsuin of Europe, are very similar in size, shape, and habits: with the latter in fact it is probably 

 specifically identical. The Atlantic species occurs off Nova Scotia and probably farther north- 

 ward, and ranges south at least to Florida. The California species, according to Scammou, has 

 been found at Bauderas Bay and about the mouth of the Pigiuto River, Mexico (latitude 20 30'), 

 and north to the Columbia River (latitude 46 1C'). In the winter these Porpoises are seen off 

 Astoria and in Cathlamet Bay twenty miles above, but in spring and summer, when the river is 

 fresh to its mouth, they leave the Columbia. The Atlantic Porpoise also ascends rivers. They go 



'Belknap's American Biography has the following account of one of the journeys of the first settlers of Massa- 

 chusetts in IG'JO: 



"The next morning, Thursday, December 7, they divided themselves into two parties, eight in the shallop, and 

 tho rest on shore, to make farther discovery of this place, which they found to be ' a bay, without either river or creek 

 coming into it.' They gave it tho name of Grampus Bay, because they saw many fish of that species."- Belkuap's 

 American Biography, New York, 1846, vol. ii, p. 318. 



