132 BULLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



gave me valuable assistance. More whales have been seen on the coast, 

 and we may yet succeed in getting a complete skeleton. I would sug- 

 gest that it might be desirable to send a printed circular to the Long 

 Island keepers requesting them to give the matter their special attention. 



Washington, February 5, 1885. 



36.— notice: of the capture of a male pygmy sperm whale 

 -kogia rreviceps— at kitty hawk, north carolina. 



By FREDERICK W. TRUE. 



The Commission may well congratulate itself upon the receipt by the 

 Smithsonian Institution of a male pygmy sperm whale. The occurrence 

 of this rare and interesting species in the Atlantic was made known 

 for the first time by the capture of a specimen somewhat more than a 

 year ago at Spring Lake, New Jersey. This first specimen was a female, 

 and one can, therefore, understand the gratification those interested in 

 the study of the Cetacea feel in receiving, as a second specimen, one of 

 the opposite sex. The species is by no means well known, but of the 

 few specimens captured the majority have been females. If I am not at 

 error in my opinions, the male has been described as an animal of a 

 genus and species distinct from the female. 



The circumstances which attended the acquisition of the new speci- 

 men are set forth in the following letter addressed to Professor Baird 

 by Mr. James E. Hobbs, keeper of the Kitty Hawk Life-saving Station, 

 Sixth District, North Carolina, and dated January 1, 1885: 



"I am sorry I was unfortunate with the fish, but I was determined 

 to secure it. It came ashore during a gale of wind and a high tide 

 and was badly chafed. On the next morning we had a snow storm. 

 The fish came ashore 2| miles north of the station, and the patrol 

 informed me that it was a porpoise. Accordingly, I sent three men 

 with horse and cart for it, but as one of them had to hold the horse 

 and the other two could not put it in the cart, they returned without 

 it, and reported that it was a blackfish 9 feet long. The men pulled 

 the fish upon the shore, and I had it covered with a light sail. On 

 Sunday the gale abated, and I succeeded in carrying home the fish, 

 which I identified as a pygmy sperm whale. While the whale was on 

 the beach the sail blew off of its head, and the birds picked out one of 

 its eyes. I did not get your telegram until the afternoon of Sunday. 

 The gale detained the boat that runs here, so I boxed the specimen up 

 and carried it in a small boat a distance of 5 miles to a fish-boat, and 

 shipped it to Elizabeth City. I hope you will receive it all right. Like 

 all other fish of its kind, handling causes the skin to peel off as the 

 skin of a potato. This whale was badly skinned up. 



