THE BLACKFISH 1227 



The ordinary blackfish has a wide distribution, having been obtained 

 Distribution coagts of E urope) t h e Atlantic coast of North America, the 



Cape of Good Hope, and New Zealand. Mr. True considers, however, that the 

 blackfish of the North Pacific (G. scammonz), and also the one found on the Atlan- 

 tic coast to the south of New Jersey, are distinct species, and there is also some 

 evidence of the existence of a fourth in the Bay of Bengal. In Europe the blackfish 

 or, as it is often called, the pilot whale, or ca'ing whale, is a frequent, although 



THE BI.ACKFISH. 

 (One-thirty-sixth natural size.) 



irregular, visitant to the British coasts, and it occasionally extends as far north as 

 Greenland. In the Mediterranean it appears to be rare. 



The blackfish is the most gregarious of all the Cetaceans, assembling 

 in herds which frequently comprise from two hundred to three hun- 

 dred individuals, and occasionally include as many as one thousand or even two 

 thousand. The members of a herd always blindly follow a leader, after the manner 

 of a flock of sheep, and from this strange habit the species derives its names of 

 pilot whale and ca'ing (= driving) whale. Curiously enough, if the leader of a 

 herd happen to run into shoal water and become stranded, the other members 



