AMERICAN MUSEUM WHALE COLLECTION 



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beached in a sandy cove where the gray 

 rock wall rose in a jagged mass, making a 

 perfect background for the white body, 

 its purity of color intensified by the crim- 

 son streaks of blood which dripped from 

 the bullet holes. There was something 

 almost unearthly about the picture, the 

 beautiful ghostlike animal, a very Spirit 

 of the North, seeming strangely out of 

 place away from its icebound home. 

 Five complete skeletons were secured of 

 the marsouin blanc on this expedition 

 as well as plaster molds of its body. 



Early in August of the same summer 

 a temporary appointment on the United 

 States Steamship "Albatross" bound for 

 a cruise of zoological exploration in the 

 Dutch East Indies was offered, and I 

 joined the ship at Manila, Philippine 

 Islands. In the first part of the expedi- 

 tion the only Cetacean material which 

 was secured consisted of several skulls 

 of the Southern Pacific blackfish. These 

 have thrown new light on the blackfish of 

 the southern waters and will probably 



necessitate an entire revision of the 

 genus. 



After the East Indies cruise was ended 

 I went up to Japan early in February of 

 1910 and obtained permission from the 

 Toyo Hogei Kabushiki Kaisha [Oriental 

 Whaling Co., Ltd.] to study and collect 

 specimens at their stations. The presi- 

 dent and directors of the company not 

 only offered the free use of their ships 

 and stations but also presented to the 

 Museum all the skeletons which we de- 

 sired to collect. 



This was an unrivaled opportunity, 

 for the Japanese whales had been in the 

 most complete scientific darkness and 

 what species were to be found there was 

 quite unknown. Work was begun at 

 the island of Oshima close to the north- 

 ern entrance of the Inland Sea and con- 

 tinued for several months at this and 

 neighboring villages. The skeleton of a 

 splendid blue whale seventy-nine feet 

 in length was secured. I was also in- 

 tensely delighted to find that a whale 



Whaling station at Aikawa, Japan. The stations are always located in a little bay near the feeding 

 grounds of the whales. In the distance is seen a large steamer which was used by the Russians as a 

 "floating factory" and was captured by the Japanese during the late war with Russia 



