THE BOTTLE-NOSE WHALE 1203 



being reduced to a single pair, or in one case two pairs; these teeth, more especially 

 in the males, sometimes attaining very large dimensions. The muzzle is produced 

 into a longer or shorter beak or rostrum, behind which there is a marked and 

 sudden elevation caused by the presence of a fatty cushion on the top of the head in 

 front of the blowhole; the latter having a crescent-like form, and being situated in 

 the middle line. With the exception of one species, the whales of this group are 

 characterized by the (premaxillary) bones situated in the skull behind the opening 

 of the nostrils being raised into a pair of crests overhanging the latter; these two 

 crests, as shown in the figure on the next page, being unsymmetrically disposed, 

 and one larger than the other. All the members of the group agree in having a 

 curved back fin, placed considerably behind the middle of the body; and they also 

 display the common feature of possessing flutings in the skin of the throat, which 

 are close together in front and diverge as they pass backward. 



Like the sperm whales, the members of this group are inhabitants 

 of the open sea, and feed almost entirely upon squids and cuttles. 

 Except the bottle-nose, most of them are known mainly by stranded specimens; and 

 when any of these whales approach the shore, they seem to have no idea of saving 

 themselves, but are almost invariably stranded. In this respect they resemble the 

 sperm \vhales; and it would thus seem that whales accustomed to live in the open 

 seas and to seek their food at considerable depths, become confused and helpless 

 when they reach the neighborhood of a coast. Most of them go about in pairs 

 or alone; but the bottle-nose frequently associates in schools of considerable size. 



The bottle-nose derives its name from the elevation of the upper 



surface of the head above the rather short beak and in front of the 

 istics of 



Bottle-nose blowhole into a rounded abrupt prominence. The lower jaw has 

 merely a pair of small conical teeth at the extremity, which in the 

 living state are totally concealed by the gum. In the skull the crests behind the 

 aperture of the nostrils are greatly developed; and in addition to these there are a 

 pair of longitudinal bony crests lying on either side of the base of the beak, which 

 in old males becomes of great size, with their front surfaces broad and flat. This 

 excessive development of the crests in the adult males produces a great difference in 

 the appearance of the two sexes when adult; the females (like the young) having 

 the beak distinctly projecting, \vhereas in the males it is almost buried beneath the 

 elevated and flattened surface of the upper part of the head, which has a disc-like 

 form when seen from in front. The flukes are not notched. In length the male 

 bottle-nose may reach as much as thirty feet, but the female does not exceed twenty- 

 four feet. The young individuals are black above, but with advancing age they 

 gradually pass to a light brown tint; the under parts being grayish white. Very- 

 old individuals turn almost yellow, with a white band round the neck, and the front 

 of the head and beak also white. 



The bottle-nose is a migratory species, confined to the North 

 Distribution ..-%_.. , / j o -^ 



d H b't Atlantic. During the summer it ranges as far northward as Spitz- 



bergen, but how far southward it travels in winter is not yet ascer- 

 tained. In the early autumn some specimens are usually stranded on the coasts of 

 Britain, and the countries bordering the British Channel and North Sea; but none 



