AN ACCOUNT OF THE BEAKED WHALES OF THE FAMILY ZIPHIID Jl 

 IN THE COLLECTION OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL 

 MUSEUM, WITH REMARKS ON SOME SPECIMENS IN OTHER 

 AMERICAN MUSEUMS. 



By Frederick W. True, 



Head Curator, Department of Biology, U. S. National Museum. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The beaked whales belonging to the family Ziphiidae are, with the exception 

 of the bottle-nosed whales of the genus Hyperoodon, among the rarest of cetaceans. 

 Of the three genera Mesoplodori, Ziphius, and Berardius, so far as I have been able 

 to ascertain from published records, specimens representuag about one hundred 

 individuals are known, and somewhat more than one-half of these belong to the 

 first-named genus. Berardius is the rarest genus, only about fourteen specimens • 

 havmg been collected thus far. The U. S. National Museum contains specimens 

 representing some twenty-five individuals of the three genera, or about one-fourth 

 of the material at present available. Among these are six specimens of the genua 

 Berardius, or nearly half of all that have been recorded thus far. 



The most important addition to the knowledge of these whales made during 

 the last quarter century was the discovery of representatives of the three genera 

 Mesophdon, Ziphius, and Berardius, at Bering Island, m the North Pacific, by Dr. 

 Leonhard Stejneger, whereby the Imown range of the family was very greatly 

 extended. Two of the forms were described by Doctor Stejneger in 1883, and the 

 third by myself from a skull which he collected. About one-half of the material 

 which the Museum possesses consists of that collected by Doctor Stejneger in Bering 

 Island and that from the same locality presented by Mr. Nicholas Grebnitzki, Rus- 

 sian governor of the Commander Islands. 



About six years ago the National Museum received information and specimens 

 from correspondents showing that the range of the three genera found at Bering 

 Island extends to the eastern North Pacific, one genus {Ziphius) havmg been 

 observed at Kiska Harbor, Alaska, another { Mesophdon) at Yaquina Bay, Oregon, 

 and the third {Berardius) at St. George Island, Pribilof Group, Alaska, and near 

 Cape Mendocino, CaUfornia. 



