232 The Irish Natiiralist. November, 



Of the toothed whales only the Sperm Whale or Cachalot, 

 (Kaskelot in Norwegian) seems to be of any commercial 

 value. To Mr. R. J. Ussher I am indebted for the information 

 that four Sperm Whales had been obtained off the west coast 

 of Ireland last June. 



The w^hale fisheries have not therefore added much to our 

 knowledge of this group, and the revised list of the Irish 

 Whales, Porpoises and Dolphins is as follows : — 



Whalebone Whales. 



Southern Right Whale {Balacna ausb-alis) ? 

 Northern „ „ {B. glacialis). 



Common Rovqua](Balae7iopfe? a 7?/2/sc7ihis). 

 Sibbald's ,, {B. Sibbaldi). 

 Northern ,, {B. borealis). 

 Lesser ,, {B. rostrata). 



Humpbacked Whale {Megaptera boops). 



Toothed Whales. 



Sperm Whale [Physeter macrocephahis). 



Bottle-nosed Whale {Hypcroodo7i rostratus). 



Beaked Whale (JMesoplodon bidens). 



Porpoise (^Phocoena comimmis). 



Killer {Oira giadiato?). 



Ca'in Whale {Globiccphaliis viclas), 



Risso's Dolphin {G9anipus griseiis) 



White-beaked Dolphin {Lagenorhyiichiis albirostris). 



White-sided Dolphin {L. actcUts). 



Common Dolphin {Delphijius delphis)- 



Bottle-nosed Dolphin {^T2crsiops tuysid). 



Sometimes I am asked by visitors to the Museum what is 

 done with the carcases of the whales killed by these whale 

 fishery companies. Formerly tlie value of these creatures 

 consisted mainly in the large quantities of oil extracted from 

 their bodies. Since the introduction of coal gas and of 

 mineral oil, the consumption of animal oil for lighting pur- 

 poses has considerably decreased, but other uses have been 

 found for whale oil. The oil is pressed out of the blubber 

 which lies under the skin. As the blubber is about one foot 

 thick in a full-grown Right Whale, a single large specimen 

 yields about 30 barrels of oil. Sperm oil or spermaceti, 



