REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 23 



Few specimens of this genus have ever been collected, and these from 

 the most remote parts of the globe, some from New Zealand, and one 

 from Mazatlan at the entrance of the Gulf of California. These animals 

 resemble the great sperm whale, to which they are closely related, but 

 do not seem to attain a length of more than nine or ten feet, and are 

 truly the pygmies of their race. The New Jersey specimen was pecu- 

 liarly interesting in that it was a female with young. In dissecting 

 the animal a foetus fully three feet long was found, which is probably 

 the first ever seen by the naturalist. 



The enthusiasm aroused by the arrival of this specimen had scarcely 

 abated when the stranding of another cetacean was announced from 

 station No. 17, at Barnegat City, N. J., Mr. J. H. Ridgway, keeper. 

 This remarkable animal floated in upon the tide and was secured 

 by Mr. Ridgway and his crew after considerable exertion. The cura- 

 tor of mammals and an assistant were dispatched from the National 

 Museum, and a cast of the exterior was made and the skeleton prepared 

 for shipment to Washington. As the huge animal lay upon the sand, 

 the question of its identity proved quite a puzzling one to the zoologist 

 who viewed it, but when the skull was cut out, it was at once apparent 

 that the animal belonged to the whales known as the Ziphioids, and 

 probably to the species Ziphius cavirostris, an animal for which no com- 

 mon name exists, but which may be termed a bottle-nosed whale. It 

 is probably the second specimen ever taken on the coast of the United 

 States. Ziphioid whales have a most interesting history. In ages 

 past they were very abundant, perhaps as much so as the common por- 

 poises of today, but at present only stragglers are found in remote 

 quarters of the globe. It would seem as if they were but the surviv- 

 ing relics of a great race which sprung into existence, reached the 

 maximum of its abundance, and declined long ages before man ap- 

 peared on earth. 



From the station No. 25, at Fire Island, New York, Mr. Daniel S. 

 Hubbard, keeper, and the station, No. 37, at Turtle Gut, New Jersey, 

 Mr. Uriah Cresse, keeper, came two specimens of a porpoise, which, 

 unlike the cetaceans which have been already referred to, is of common 

 occurrence on our Atlantic coast and is probably also represented in 

 European waters. The casts, however, whicli the National Museum was 

 enabled to make are probably the first of the species in any museum 

 in the country, and with the skeletons which were preserved form an 

 excellent basis for comparison with other forms. The animal is com- 

 monly known as the bottle-nose dolphin, and is identical with or closely 

 allied to the species Tursiops truncatus. 



In addition to the shark previously mentioned, several peculiar and 

 interesting fishes have been received. Among these is a fish known as 

 the ''star gazer" (Astroscopus anoplus) from station No. G, at Deal's 

 Island, North Carolina, Mr. Malachi Corbel, keeper. The " star gazer" 



