348 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



developed youug. At this place and at San Luis Obispo, the nearest 

 neighboring station, I saw four .young whales lying on the beach, which 

 had been taken from females killed in the vicinity during that season 

 (December, 1885). Their average length was about 12 feet; the largest, 

 which I sketched, being 17 feet long, and from an adult nearly 40 feet 

 in length. They were probably within two weeks of the time of birth 

 when the parent animals were killed. No use was made of these young 

 whales, although they were coated with blubber 2 inches thick. Hump- 

 back whales are scarce at San Simeon, where they were once common. 



^an Luis Obispo. — The San Luis Obispo station has been in constant 

 operation for many years. The season of 1885 was rather unprofitable 

 there, several large whales which were killed having sunk too far off 

 shore to be brought in, or the buoys, marking their position until they 

 should tloat by decomposition, having been lost sight of. Three were 

 secured late in the season. 



Point Conception and San Diego. — The Point Conception and the San 

 Diego stations, like the preceding, have been kept iii profitable operation 

 ever since their establishment, the former securing eleven and the- lat- 

 ter eight gray whales during the past season. The San Pedro station 

 is now abandoned, the force gathered there in 1884 now being employed 

 at Point Conception. 



Present numbers.— The following table, showing the numbers of 

 gray whales taken on the southern coast of California during the past 

 three seasons (167), is made from information furnished me by Mr. Clark 

 and other whalers now in the business: 



Stormy weather on the coast had the eflect of lowering the annual 

 catch in 1885-'8G. 



At the San Simeon station in December, 1885, I could see whales 

 blowing almost every hour during the day. From the elevated " look- 

 out," or observation station, on shore an extensive stretch of ocean 

 could be examined with the telescope. During my stay, and for a short 

 time afterward, covering a period of fully a month, Mr. Clark counted 

 forty whales passing southward. Many of these were too far offshore 

 to be pursued by the three boats that were daily cruising outside during 

 the season, and a few may have been other species than gray whales, 

 but counting the forty whales actually seen in December and doubling 

 that number to include those that passed at night during the same 

 period, we have eighty whales i)er month easily accounted for, ^ l>oubling 



