224 



NA TURE 



[January 9, 1896 



that an almost entirely new and unsuspected animal 

 kingdom has been opened to the zoologist. 



A general account of the nature of the results has just 

 been given, under the title " Prise d'un Cachalot," to the 

 Socidtd des Naturalistes, at its meeting in the amphi- 

 theatre of the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes, on 

 December 24 ; and two communications were made, on 

 December 30, to the Academy of Sciences by the Prince, 

 of which one was from Prof. Joubain, of Rennes, dealing 

 especially with the specimens of gigantic cephalopods 

 obtained. It will be convenient to give the proceedings 

 of the yacht, during and after the capture of the cachalot, 

 in the form of an abstract of the Prince's own com- 

 munications, and to deal with the specific details of the 

 animals collected, in the form of an abstract of Prof. 

 Joubain's paper. 



Proceedings of the Yacht. 

 On July 18 of last year, about nine o'clock in the 

 morning, I observed, while engaged in operations in the 

 deep water to the south of the island of Terceira, two 

 boats leave the coast under sail, and about half an hour 

 later two other boats proceeded in the same direction 

 from another point. It was evident that they were not 

 bound on an ordinary fishing expedition, and I quickly 

 perceived that they were in pursuit of a school of sperm 

 whales or cachalots ; and I finished with the greatest 

 speed the work in hand, in order to be able to take full 

 advantage of the rare occasion of being able to assist at 

 the capture of one of these interesting animals, should 

 Stiqh be the result of the exertions of the whalers. About 

 •eleyen o'clock I observed a whale spouting at a distance 

 ■of about two miles, and I perceived that one of the 

 whalers was approaching it cautiously. I was careful to 

 remain at the same distance, in order not to run the risk 

 of interfering with the whaler, and I closely followed all 

 the manoeuvres. The officer or coxswain of the boat 

 stood erect in the stern, steering the boat with an oar. 

 The harponeer stood in the bows, and I distinctly saw 

 him strike the whale. I then approached the group at 

 full speed, while the other whalers dispersed in pursuit of 

 other members of the school. When I had arrived 

 within one or two hundred metres, the cachalot had 

 already towed the whaler attached to it by the harpoon, 

 and the whole length of this line, to a considerable dis- 

 tance, and the harponeer had just succeeded in giving 

 the animal the thrust of the lance, which terminates the 

 struggle if skilfully delivered. The spray thrown out by 

 the animal had become pink, and soon became quite 

 red, while a pool of blood extended itself more and more 

 on the surface of the water around. The Princessc Alice 

 was lying at about one hundred metres from the animal 

 when it turned slowly round, lashed out with its tail, and 

 then came straight for the yacht at a speed of ten or 

 twelve knots. As there are many records of whaling 

 ships having been sunk by the cachalot under similar 

 circumstances, it will not be wondered at if I confess to 

 having experienced some anxiety during the approach of 

 the whale, and when powerless to avoid it. Just, however, 

 at the moment when I expected the shock, the whale 

 sounded, passed under the keel without touching it, and 

 reappeared on the other side in the agony of death. The 

 rescue of the yacht from certain damage, if not from 

 •destruction, would have been impossible had the life of 

 the whale been spared for a little longer. The cachalot 

 was now floating alongside, with its head at a distance 

 of about fifteen metres from the rudder, when its jaws 

 -opened and allowed several objects to escape, which I 

 •quickly recognised as cephalopods ; but, notwithstanding 

 the speed with which a boat was got away, in order to 

 secure these animals, of the inestimable value of which I 

 "had already a presentiment, I perceived that they had 

 iDegun to sink. On the spur of the moment, I started 

 ithe engines very slow astern, and the coveted remains 



NO. 1367, VOL. 53] 



circulated slowly in the vortices produced by the propeller 

 until they were secured by the boat. 



The vessel now floated in a sea of blood of some acres 

 in extent, and the whalers fixed one of our hawsers to the 

 head of the dead animal ; for they had gladly accepted 

 my offer to tow it to El Negrito, where they have their 

 installation for harvesting the oil from the whales that 

 they are lucky enough to catch. The towing operation 

 was not an easy one. The tail, acting as a rudder, caused 

 the animal to swerve so violently from one side to 

 another, that it was necessary to desist from the attempt 

 to tow it head foremost, and to shift the tow-rope to the 

 tail, after which the operation was completed without 

 difficulty. The creek, which was the final destination of 

 the whale, was not a suitable place for the yacht to remain ; 

 so, after landing the zoologists, MM. Richard and 

 Lallier, and the artist, M. Borel, she left for the anchor- 

 age of Angra, while these gentlemen remained to assist 

 at the breaking-up of the whale, with all the materials 

 necessary for preserving the interesting matter which it 

 promised to furnish. 



For four days, under a burning sun, the whalers worked 

 at removing the blubber and transferring it to the neigh- 

 bouring house, where it was boiled down. At the same 

 time they endeavoured to assist me in every way in 

 securing the portions of the animal which interested me, 

 more especially the brain. But the work was so difficult 

 that it was only at the end of the fourth day that the skull 

 was penetrated, and then the brain was found in a too 

 advanced state of decomposition to be of use for pre- 

 servation. It was impossible to approach the brain 

 sooner, except by sacrificing the spermaceti, of which the 

 volume was more than a cubic metre, and the commercial 

 value very great. For half a day several men stood up 

 to their middles in the cavity of the head which contains 

 the spermaceti, and ladled it out. It must be remembered 

 that the whale, which was stranded at high water, could 

 only be worked at after the tide had ebbed considerably. 



A large number of parasites were collected from the 

 stomach, the digestive organs, the blubber, and the skin 

 of the animal. M. Richard discovered on the lips of 

 the whale certain round impressions, which he iden- 

 tified as the marks of the suckers of the great cepha- 

 lopods. One can imagine the sti-uggles of the giants 

 which take place deep under the surface of the 

 ocean. Notwithstanding his activity the cephalopod 

 is seized by the cachalot, who, by means of the for- 

 midable teeth of the lower jaw, and the correspond- 

 ing recesses in the upper jaw, holds the body of the 

 animal without hope of escape. The cephalopod, in its 

 defence, envelopes the face and head of the whale with 

 the crown of its tentacles, the suckers of which leave 

 deep impressions on its lips, and other paits where they 

 have fastened. Meantime the cachalot makes efforts to 

 swallow the portion of the cephalopod of which it has 

 really taken possession, with the effect that the part of 

 comparatively small calibre connecting the body with the 

 head gives way ; the body is swallowed, and the head 

 dies and either drops off, or is eaten by the whale. 



Zoological Details from Professor Joubai/fs Paper. 

 The sperm whale or cachalot {Physeter inacrocephaliis., 

 LacepMe), caught on July 18, 1895, measured 137 

 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 speci- 

 mens, each over one metre in length, of a species, 

 probably new, of the little-known but interesting genus 

 Histioteuthis. The bodies of two other immense cepha- 

 lopods were collected at the same time. When the 

 stomach of the cachalot was opened, it was found filled 

 with a quantity, estimated at over one hundred kilo- 

 grammes, of the partially digested debris of these 



