The Sperm Whale and its Food 273 



Zoological Details from Professor Joubain's Paper. 



The sperm whale or cachalot (Physeter macrocephalus 

 Lacepede), caught on July 18, 1895, measured 13-7 metres in 

 length. While in the act of death it ejected several large 

 cephalopods which it had only just swallowed, as was evident 

 from their perfect state of preservation. Amongst them were 

 three large specimens, each over one metre in length, of a 

 species, probably new, of the little-known but interesting genus 

 Histioteiithis. The bodies of two other immense cephalopods 

 were collected at the same time. When the stomach of the 

 cachalot was opened, it was found filled with a quantity, 

 (-timated at over one hundred kilogrammes, of the partially 

 digested debris of these cephalopods, all of them of enormous 

 size. Amongst this debris may be noticed the crown and 

 tentacles of a cephalopod, the body of which could not be 

 found, belonging probably to the genus Cuciotciithis, hitherto 

 known only by a few fragments. The muscular arms, which, 

 though much shrunk and contracted by the preserving liquid, 

 are as thick as those of a man. were covered with i;- kers, 



each armed with a sharp daw, as powerful as those of the 

 larger carnivora. More than one hundred of these sucker- 

 remain adhering to the arm-. 



The bodies of the t\ cephalopods constitute one of 



the most interesting novelties of the sdentifir cruise of H.S.H. 

 I'rincv of Monaco. Tlx-ir -trncture and their appearance 

 are so different from all that i- known amongst these animal-, 

 it is impossible to place them in any species, genus, or 

 familv of this order. I propose for them the name ol 

 tcnti: ddii, hoping that the discovery of complete 



specimens may permit ol tin -ir attmitir- bring more pert- 



iied. One of these animal-, half digested, is useles- 

 tody; the <>ther, though he. idle , i- mu< h better preserved. 

 It is f tVmale, of which the body or visceral sa< -rolonged 



immiT-ion in f<>rm<.| .md alcohol, -till m a-ures 90 centimetres 

 in 1' ii it in iv be concluded that the length of 



the complete animal would exceed two metres. The sui 

 of the sac is covered with large, solid, rhomboidal scales, 



18 



