PHYSETERID& 253 



it was long considered that they belonged to different species 

 the male form having been described as II. latifrons. The length 

 of an adult male reaches 30 feet, while that of the female does not 

 exceed 24 feet. 



The Hyperoodon, sometimes called " Bottlenose," a name also 

 vaguely given to several species of Dolphin, is a regular inhabitant 

 of the North Atlantic, passing the summer in the Spitzbergen seas 

 and going farther south in winter. It resembles the Sperm Whale 

 in possessing a large store of oil in the upper part of the head, 

 which yields spermaceti when refined; on this account, and also 

 for the sake of the blubber, which supplies an oil almost indis- 

 tinguishable from sperm-oil, this Whale has been the object of a 

 regular chase in recent years. 



The following account of its habits is taken from a paper 

 by Captain D. Gray, published in the Zoological Society's Proceedings 

 for 1882 : 



"These Whales are occasionally met with immediately after 

 leaving the Shetland Isles in March, and north across the ocean 

 until the ice is reached, near the margin of which they are found 

 in the greatest numbers; but they are seldom seen amongst it. 

 Although it is not in their nature to keep in amongst the ice, they 

 like to frequent the open bays for the shelter it gives them from 

 the sea. Sometimes a point of ice overlaps them ; it is then only 

 that they are seen going out again towards the ocean. They are 

 also to be met with from the entrance of Hudson's Straits and up 

 Da vis's Straits, as far as 70 N. lat., and down the east side 

 round Cape Farewell, all round Iceland, north along the Greenland 

 ice to 77 N. lat. ; also along the west coast of Spitzbergen, 

 and east to Cherry Island in lat. 72 N. and long. 19 E. Beyond 

 these limits I have never seen them ; but doubtless they are to be 

 found as far as the Straits of Belle Isle on the west, and east to 

 Nova Zembla. From the fact that they are not seen in summer 

 farther south than a day's sail from the ice, it would appear that 

 they migrate south in the autumn, and north again in the spring. 

 They are gregarious in their habits, going in herds of from four 

 to ten. It is rare to see more than the latter number together, 

 although many different herds are frequently in sight at the same 

 time. The adult males very often go by themselves ; but young 

 bulls, cows, and calves, with an old male as a leader, are sometimes 

 seen together. They are very unsuspicious, coming close alongside 

 the ship, round about underneath the boats, until their curiosity 

 is satisfied. . . . They vary in colour from black in the young to 

 light brown in the older animals. The very old turn almost yellow, 

 the beak and front of the head being quite white, with a white 

 band round their necks ; all of them are grayish-white on the belly. 

 They can leap many feet out of the water, even having time while 



