WHALE HUNTING WITH GUN AND CAMERA 



on its feet fastens itself firmly on the soft skin of 

 the whale. Wherever there is an injury or abrasion 

 of any sort, quantities of these parasites cluster and 

 breed. 



On the snout and top of the head the skin is usually 

 roughened, or cornified, much like the "bonnet" of the 

 right whale, this being caused by the attacks of the 

 whale lice. If one of these parasites is placed upon 

 the hand it begins slowly to raise the body upon the 

 front legs, driving its claws into the flesh, and in a 

 short time will be firmly fastened and can only be re- 

 moved with difficulty. The whale lice are crustaceans 

 and have been named Cyamus scammoni after Captain 

 Charles M. Scammon, who first discovered them upon 

 the gray whales of California. 



Besides whale lice the devilfish are the hosts of hard, 

 shell-like barnacles known as Cryptolcpas rhachianec- 

 tci. These imbed themselves deeply on all parts of the 

 body and sometimes are found in large clusters. 

 Whenever a barnacle becomes detached a circular, 

 grayish pit remains ; this becomes white as the wound 

 heals, and the scar is exactly like that produced on 

 the humpback by the barnacle Coronula diadcina. 

 Without doubt these parasites cause the whale a great 

 deal of annoyance and the animals probably rub them- 

 selves against rocks in endeavors to scrape them off. 



The hairs on the devilfish are longer and are dis- 

 tributed more uniformly over the entire head than in 

 the case of any other whale. This is an exceedingly 

 interesting and important fact and, together with many 

 other anatomical characters, indicates that the gray 



