THE SPERM WHALE 1197 



At the junction of the head with the body there is a distinct prominence in the 

 middle line of the back; while half-way between this and the tail, is a larger projec- 

 tion, followed by a number of smaller ones, and technically known as the "hump." 

 There is no back fin. The flippers are placed a little behind and below the eyes, 

 and seldom exceed six feet in length by three in width; while the maximum diame- 

 ter of the flukes is about fifteen feet. In color the sperm whale is generally either 

 black or blackish brown on the upper parts, becoming rather lighter on the sides and 

 under surface, and passing into silvery gray on the chest. Occasionally, however, 

 piebald individuals are met with; and old males frequently become gray in the re- 

 gion of the muzzle and crown of the head. 



The sperm whale is essentially an inhabitant of the open seas, the 

 Distribution . ,. ., . ,, ,, _ ... . , . . , 



individuals that appear on the British coasts' being either stragglers or 



such as have been carried after death by the Gulf Stream. The range of the species 

 extends over all of the warmer oceans, but does not include the polar seas; and that 

 the sperm whale is in the habit of traveling immense distances is proved by the cir- 

 cumstance that specimens have been killed in the Atlantic bearing in their bodies 

 spears that had been fixed there during a sojourn in the Pacific. Formerly, this 

 whale was much hunted in the Bay of Bengal and around Ceylon; but it is now 

 comparatively rare in these regions, while its numbers have been greatly diminished 

 by constant persecution in its favorite haunts in the South Pacific. 



Captain Scammon states that a very large sperm whale, captured off 



the Galapagos islands in 1853, yielded eighty-five barrels of oil. This 

 quantity was, however, exceeded by one caught in the year 1817 in the same region 

 by the ship Adam, belonging to a great-uncle of the present writer; the yield in that 

 case being one hundred barrels. A tooth taken from this whale is stated by Sir R. 

 Owen, to have measured nine and one-half inches in length, and nine in girth, with 

 a weight of three pounds; and there is another nearly equally large tooth in the 

 British Museum which formerly belonged to the writer, and not improbably came 

 from the same whale. As no sperm whales killed at the present day have teeth of 

 these dimensions, it seems not improbable that the old statements as to specimens 

 of eighty feet in length, may not have been so far from the truth; and it is possible 

 that the one killed by the crew of the Adam may have been the largest individual 

 of which there is any record. 



Sperm whales are gregarious animals, and assemble in "schools," 



which in former days might comprise from fifteen to twenty to several 

 hundred individuals. Although for a part of the year some of the largest and old- 

 est males live by themselves, the " schools" generally comprise individuals of both 

 sexes and all ages, and are led by two or three old males. The females display 

 much solicitude for the safety of one another and likewise for that of their off- 

 spring; and when one female out of a party is killed, it is generally easy to capture 

 several others. The young males, which are found associated together in herds at 

 certain times of the year are, however, according to Captain Scammon, far less 

 chivalrous in disposition, and will at once leave a wounded companion to its fate. 



The sperm whale, as recorded by Beale in 1838, is distinguished from all other 

 Cetaceans by the regularity with which it comes to the surface to breathe, although 



