[3] 



THE BOTTLE-NOSE WHALE FISHERY. 



223 



young males are generally associated, with often an old " bull " as a 

 leader, but as a rule the latter generally keep apart. In this respect, 

 as in many others, their habits greatly resemble those of the Sperm 

 Whale of the South Pacific. When swimming undisturbed along the 

 surface of the sea the body is at first submerged with the exception of 

 the anterior j)ortion of the head. Gradually, however, the body emerges 

 as far as the dorsal fin, and after swimming thus for a short distance 

 the speed slackens and the creature prepares to descend by allowing 

 ing the head to sink, the back is elevated, displaying above water an 

 exact segment of a circle. It then deliberately descends, seldom show- 

 ing its tail unless excited. When alarmed or angry, however, it thrashes 

 the sea violently with its tail and sometimes leaps bodily out of the 

 water. On one of their number being harpooned the remaining mem- 

 bers of the school refuse to desert it whilst it is alive and thus frequently 

 fall victims to their solicitude; this is occasionally not confined to the 

 herd of which the struck whale is a member, for Captain Gray tells me 

 they will come from every jjoint of the compass towards the fast whale 

 in the most mysterious manner. They are very difficult to kill, and 

 when wounded dangerous to approach. Captain Gray has known them 

 to run out 700 fathoms of line and to remain under water for two 

 hours. The food of this species appears to consist almost entirely of 

 spmbs (loligo). 



All the above might with very slight modification have been written 

 of the southern Sperm Whale, but the curious similarity does not cease 

 here, for the commercial products of the Bottle-nose Whales are almost 

 identical with those of the former; its head contains similar "matter" 

 and the oil, of which the full-grown animal yields about a ton, is little, if 

 any inferior, to true sperm oil, its market value being about £60 per ton 

 of 252 gallons. The following table gives the results yielded by the 

 analysis of a sample of Bottle-nose oil compared with those of a similar 



sample of Pacific sperm oil. 



Public Analyst's Laboratory, No. 1, 



Surry Street, Sheffield, August, 1882. 



Report on a sample of oil from the blubber of the Bottle-nosed Whale received from William 

 Baxter, esq., 20 Sarhour street, Peterhead, N. B., on August 11, 1882. 



The following are the results yielded by the sample and by a specimen of genxiine 

 sperm oil analyzed for comparison : 



Specific gravity at 15.5° C 



Plashing point ° C 



Viacosity (seconds) 



Unsaponiflable mai ter (spermyl alcohol) 



Specific gravity of unsaponifiable matter .. 

 Rise of temperature ■with sulphuric acid o C 

 Color reaction with sulphuric acid 



