414 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



cording to report, has tbe flukes of this fish. From Station No. 7, Cap- 

 tain At wood will follow the const south until he comes to the cranium. 

 This will cover the entire range of the fish and its fragments. 

 Provincetown, Mass., October 15, 1882. 



I went to the oil works to-day to test and obtain a sample of the oil. 

 It was not necessary to test the oil, as it had congealed, and was pure 

 sperm. Mr. Cook, proprietor of the works, pronounced it oil from a 

 "sperm whale calf," while others contended that the animal was the 

 sperm whale grampus. At the factory Mr. Cook took some of the oil, 

 placed it in a woolen cloth, and in the absence of an oil press, placed 

 the mass in a common iron vise and screwed it up tight. The oil ran 

 freely through the cloth, leaving the pure sperm. The sample I send 

 may have a peculiar odor since it was " cooked" by the steam process. 



It may be of interest to add that the bones of the finback whales are 

 steamed in order that they may be employed in the manufacture of a 

 fertilizer. The ear bones are also steamed, but they are the only bones 

 in the whale which are not affected by steam. 



Provincetown, Mass., October 10, 1882. 



FURTHER EXAMINATION OF THE STRANDED CETACEAN. 



• 



Captain Fisher, of Life-saving Station No. 7, Peaked Hill Bar, tells 

 me that the remains of the fish came ashore near his station shortly 

 after they were washed off the beach where they originally stranded 

 south of Station No. 9. lie states that they were then in good order. He 

 to-day conducted Captain Atwood and myself to the flukes which we 

 found in an advanced state of decomposition. These I measured. 

 Across the flukes from tip to tip was 47 inches. The depth of the 

 flukes from the last vertebra was 2G inches, and the outside measure, 

 ment, from the tip to the last vertebra, was 31 inches. 



Attached to the caudal fin, or rather forming the central portion of 

 it, is about 10 inches of the vertebral column. This is about all the 

 bone in this part of the animal except, perhaps, some very small bones 

 forming the ramifications to both corners of the flukes. These, how- 

 ever, are composed largely of a cartilaginous substance, while Ihe flukes 

 are exceedingly tough blubber. The flukes were about half a mile north 

 of Station No. 7, 10 miles north of where the fish originally stranded, 

 and about 7 miles from where we found the cranium on the 15th instant. 



After Captain Fisher and his men cut off the flukes the rest of the 

 carcass disappeared. They thought it was washed off by the sea, but 

 to ascertain if possibly it was covered by the shifting sands, Captain 

 Fisher will probe the beach with a crowbar. He will also keep a look- 

 out northward, as they might be washed ashore again. He will take 

 care of Ihe tlukes, and should you care for the vertebra he will remove 

 the flesh and forward them. 



Ko one seems to have attached the least value to the fish except the 



