\'0L. VII] EVERMANN— DIRECTOR'S REPORT FOR 1917 333 



which was acquired in 1915. This has proved to be one of the 

 most interesting exhibits. It is placed in a suitable open shed 

 in the court between the bird hall and the research wing. The 

 whale from which this skeleton was obtained was taken in 

 1908 off the west coast of Vancouver Island by the w^haler "St. 

 Lawrence,"' operating from the Pacific Whaling Company's 

 station at Kyuquot, B. C. It was a bull whale. Total length, 

 75 feet\ Its weight was estimated at 80 tons. It is estimated 

 to have produced 60 barrels of oil, about 8 tons of fertilizer, 

 and 400 pounds of baleen or whalebone. Other measurements 

 are as follows: Length of lower jawbone, 19 feet; of upper 

 jaw, 15 feet 4 inches ; head. 20 feet 6 inches ; longest rib, 10 feet 

 4 inches; fore flipper, 10 feet 10 inches; skull, 5 feet; width at 

 eleventh rib, 11 feet; depth, 13 feet. 



The Sulphur-bottom is the largest of all the whales. It is 

 said to reach a length of 60 to 100 feet. Captain Scammon 

 records one which was 95 feet long ; girth 39 feet ; length of 

 jawbone 21 feet ; length of longest baleen 4 feet ; yield of baleen 

 800 pounds ; yield of oil 110 barrels ; estimated weight of whole 

 animal 147 tons. 



The Sulphur-bottom Whale occurs at all seasons on the Cali- 

 fornia coast. During the period from May to September they 

 formerly might be seen in large numbers close in shore, at times 

 playing about ships at anchor in the open roadsteads, or near 

 islands or capes, but as a rule they do not approach vessels with 

 the same boldness that the Finback does. This species is con- 

 sidered the swiftest whale afloat, and for this reason it is but 

 seldom pursued and still more rarely taken. 



Quite contrary to the more or less widespread popular belief, 

 whales are not fish, but mammals. They are warm blooded ani- 

 mals, bring forth their young alive and suckle tlieir young, like 

 the horse and the cow. A whale simply resembles a fish ex- 

 ternally because it is adapted to life in the water ; but it is no 

 more a fish on that account than a bat is a bird because it is 

 adapted to flying. 



Whales are the most perfectly aquatic of all mammals; they 

 never leave the water, although legends have represented them 

 as pasturing upon the shore, and Aelian spoke of them as com- 

 ing out on the sand and basking in the sun's rays. 



' It is claimed that the total length in the flesh was 86 feet. 



