22 MAMMALS OF PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY. 



Habits, etc. One of the most abundant and valuable of the small whales 

 of the northeast coast of N. Ameica. They average about 15 feet long, some- 

 times reaching over 20 feet, weighing about 1,000 Ibs., and yielding 3 to 5 

 barrels of oil. The "porpoise jaw oil" from this whale is of fine quality for 

 delicate machinery. The flesh is good food and much used for bait. They 

 do not play like the porpoise, but often rise to blow and move leisurely along 

 unless they are pursued by " Killers " ( Orcina} or whalers, when they may 

 be driven in great numbers, on the beach and are generally thus captured. 

 They feed on menhaden, herring, mackerel and squids, and give birth to 

 their young in August. At birth these are 5 to 7 feet long. In winter they 

 are absent from our shores, returning in June. The color is black without 

 spots, a short narrow white area on belly. The head is short, rounded, and 

 the forehead very high, rising at right angles from the end of snout. The 

 lateral fins are remarkably shaped, like a long, curved cutlass blade. The 

 teeth number 8 to 12 in each jaw, and are small, becoming lost in old age. 



Records in N.J. "Atlantic coast of N.America to N.Jersey." True, 

 Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 36, 1889, p. 184. 



Ocean Co. A skull of this species, No. 3,014, from Long Beach, is in the 

 Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Rhoads, 1902. 



Southern Blackfish. Globicephala brachyptera Cope. 



1876. Globiocephalus brachypterus Cope, Proceedings of Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, p. 129. 



Type locality. Delaware Bay, Maurice River Cove, N. J. 



Fauna/ distribution. Southeastern Atlantic Ocean, from N. J. to the West 

 Indies. 



Distribution in Pa. and N.J. Delaware Bay; along the southern N. J. 

 coast, northward, possibly to Sandy Hook, where it would overlap the 

 southern range of G. melas. 



Habits, etc. So far as known, the southern blackfish behaves like its north- 

 ern kinsman. It is distinguished by the relatively broader, shorter skull, 

 resembling G. scammoni of the Pacific seas. The dorsal fin is much nearer 

 the head than in scammoni. The pectoral fins are shorter and the teeth 

 fewer, while the premaxillar bones are wider and the animal is without any 

 white markings, being solid black. The length is 15 to 18 feet. 



Records in Pa. and N. J., Cape May Co. Hereford Inlet, recorded July, 

 1891. True, 1902. 



Cumberland Co. " A female of this genus was taken by fishermen in 

 February of the present year [1876] at the mouth of Maurice River, and was 

 sent to this city [Philadelphia] where it fell under my observation." Cope, 

 sup. cit. A previous specimen, a skull, from the west shore of Delaware Bay 

 (in Delaware) was recorded by Cope in 1866. See P. A. N. S., 1866, p. 7. 



