TOOTHED WHALES. 25 



At the junction of the head with the body there is a distinct prominence in 

 the middle line of the back ; while half-way between this and the tail, is a larger 

 projection, followed by a number of smaller ones, and technically known as the 

 " hump." There is no back-fin. The flippers are placed a little behind and below 

 the eyes, and seldom exceed 6 feet in length by 3 in width ; while the maximum 

 diameter of the flukes is about 15 feet. In colour the sperm-whale is generally 

 either black or blackish brown on the upper-parts, becoming rather lighter on the 

 sides and under surface, and passing into silvery grey on the chest. Occasionally, 

 however, piebald individuals are met with ; and old males frequently become grey 

 in the region of the muzzle and crown of the head. 



The sperm-whale is essentially an inhabitant of the open seas, 



DistriDUtion. . , 



the individuals that appear on the British coasts being either stragglers 

 or such as have been carried after death by the Gulf Stream. The range of the 

 specie's extends over all the warmer oceans, but does not include the polar seas ; 

 and that the sperm-whale is in the habit of travelling immense distances is proved 

 by the circumstance that specimens have been killed in the Atlantic bearing in their 

 bodies spears that had been fixed there during a sojourn in the Pacific. Formerly, 

 this whale was much hunted in the Bay of Bengal and around Ceylon; but 

 it is now comparatively rare in these regions, while its numbers have been 

 greatly diminished by constant persecution in its favourite haunts in the South 

 Pacific. 



Captain Scammoii states that a very large sperm-whale, captured 



off the Galapagos Islands in 1853, yielded eighty-five barrels of oil. 

 This quantity was, however, exceeded by one caught in the year 1817 in the same 

 region by the ship Adam, belonging to a great-uncle of the present writer ; the yield 

 in that case being one hundred barrels. A tooth taken from this whale is stated by 

 Sir R Owen, to have measured 9 \ inches in length, and 9 in girth, with a weight of 

 3 Ibs. ; and there is another nearly equally large tooth in the British Museum which 

 formerly belonged to the writer, and not improbably came from the same whale. 

 As no sperm-whales killed at the present day have teeth of these dimensions, it 

 seems not improbable that the old statements as to specimens of 80 feet in length, 

 may not have been so far from the truth ; and it is possible that the one killed 

 by the crew of the Adam may have been the largest individual of which there 

 is any record. 



Sperm-whales are gregarious animals, and assemble in " schools," 



which in former days might comprise from fifteen to twenty to several 

 hundred individuals. Although for a part of the year some of the largest and 

 oldest males live by themselves, the " schools " generally comprise individuals of 

 both sexes and all ages, and are led by two or three old males. The females 

 display much solicitude for the safety of one another and likewise for that of 

 their offspring; and when one female out of a party is killed, it is generally 

 easy to capture several others. The young males, which are found associated 

 together in herds at certain times of the year, are however, according to Captain 

 Scammon, far less chivalrous in disposition, and will at once leave a wounded 

 companion to its fate. 



The sperm-whale, as recorded by Beale in 1838, is distinguished from all other 



