OCEANIC MAMMALS 495 



chiefly interested in whaling, it was made illegal to take sperm 

 whales of less than 35 feet in length, so that "cows" will (or 

 should) thus be practically eliminated from the annual catch. 

 The toll will therefore fall upon the bulls, but on account of 

 their polygamous habit, this will permit a large catch without 

 reducing the total males below breeding requisites. It is said 

 also that the sperm whale will receive further protection "by 

 the imposition of close seasons on the various whaling grounds" 

 (Matthews, 1938a). 



Family RHACHIANECTIDAE : Gray Whales 



CALIFORNIA GRAY WHALE; "DEVILFISH" 



RHACHIANECTES GLAUCUS (Cope) 



Agaphelus glaucus Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1868, p. 160 (Monterey 



Bay, California coast). 

 FIGS. : Scammon, 1874, pi. 2 (upper fig.) ; Andrews, R. CX, 1914, pis. 19-27, figs. 1-22 



(photographs and skeleton). 



In his monograph on this species, Dr. R. C. Andrews (1914) 

 assigns it the rank of a family, intermediate in some respects 

 between the right whales andHhe fin whales, and recalling in 

 its long straight humerus the extinct Plesiocetus. Females are 

 slightly larger than males, attaining as much as 45 feet (1,371 

 cm.), the males 43 feet. There is no dorsal fin. The throat has 

 two large grooves, one on each side, with sometimes a shorter 

 median one between. The whalebone plates are yellowish 

 white, sometimes with a touch of grayish in the posterior ones, 

 and the frayed portion is the same. They are coarse and 

 thick and relatively fewer than in other large baleen whales, 

 about 138-174 in each rank. There is much individual varia- 

 tion in color, but in general "the head, throat, back, and the 

 dorsal and ventral ridges of the peduncle are black, or very 

 dark slate, and are usually unmarked. On the dorsal and lateral 

 surfaces of the distal half of the rostrum there is considerable 

 white and light gray in flecks and small spots . . . The 

 throat and sides to the pectorals are usually unmarked. From 

 the fins to a point opposite the anus, on the sides, breast and 

 belly, are many roughly elliptical and circular markings with 

 irregular edges." The pectoral fins are dark slate like the body. 



This interesting species is apparently at present confined to 

 the North Pacific Ocean. In summer it is found in Bering Sea 



