338 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA [No. 55 



to the United States National Museum so that prompt steps may be 

 taken to obtain the specimen if desirable. 



Occasionally old skeletons of whales are found on the beaches, and 

 where the whole or a large part of a skull cannot be saved it is often 

 possible to learn the identity of the species and obtain a desirable 

 museum specimen by cutting out one or both of the ear bones from 

 underneath the base of the skull. The ear bones consist of an outer 

 shell-like bulla, and the more important inner ear bones to which it 

 is attached. Any species of whale can be positively identified by 

 these bones. 



Family RHACHIANECTIDAE : Gray Whales 



RHACHIANECTES GLAUCUS (Cops) 

 CALIFORNIA GKAY WHALE 



Affaplielus glaucus Cope, Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. Proc., p. 160, 1868. 



Type locality. Monterey Bay, Calif. 



General characters. Size smaller and form more slender than in the right 

 whale (pi. 48, B) ; no dorsal fin; 2 or 3 longitudinal grooves on throat; head 

 relatively slender and flat ; baleen short, yellow in color ; eye above corner 

 of mouth ; ear a mere opening in skin about 18 inches back of eye ; spiracles 

 on top of head about 6 feet from tip of nose; no dorsal fin. tail broadly ex- 

 panded; side flippers well developed, about 6 feet long; teeth entirely absent 

 in adults and baleen (whalebone) light and coarse. Color mottled gray, 

 lighter in some individuals and in others almost black, most of the mottling 

 on the upper surface. 



Measurements. Length of large males, 42 to 44 feet ; pectorals, about 6 feet ; 

 spiracles (nostrils or blowholes), about 6 feet back of tip of rostrum; baleen, 

 14 to 16 inches long. 



Distribution and abtmdance. The California gray whales spend 

 the winter along the coast of California, Baja California, and Mex- 

 ico, where the young are born in the shallow gulfs and bays, and in 

 spring they pass northward along the coast and spend the summer 

 in Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean, and Okhotsk Sea. According to 

 Scammon they again appear off the coast of Oregon and upper Cali- 

 fornia in October and November on their way south to their tropical 

 winter haunts. 



In 1853 to 1856 the number of these whales visiting the southern 

 California coast in winter was estimated at 30,000 or 40,000 indi- 

 viduals, and in 1874 about 8,000 or 10,000 individuals (Scammon, 

 1874). In April 1927, Huey (1928, p. 71) saw 5 of this species, 

 " reported on the verge of extinction " in San Ignacio Lagoon on the 

 west coast of Baja California, and in August 1926, saw and photo- 

 graphed 1 taken at the California Sea Products Co.'s plant at Trini- 

 dad, Calif. This was taken near shore at Crescent City and was 

 the only one of the species taken by the company's fleet at this point 

 during 6 years of operation. 



General habits. These migratory whales follow the general shore 

 line of the continent and come into the shallower waters of the bays 

 to feed and breed. Hence their capture for oil and for other uses 

 has been more rapid than in some of the more strictly pelagic species. 

 Among the whalers they are counted dangerous animals as they are 

 quick and powerful and will sometimes attack their pursuers and 

 smash the boats and kill or cripple the occupants. The mother whale 

 will savagely pursue and attack the boats if her calf is injured or 

 separated from her. 



