Tin: sriiAc AND Tin: ii:vn. I.'ISIL 31 



and grew up witl t parental ran-, which lias caused a slight modification. Tin- HM.M prniiiinoiit 



feature is that in its dorsal ridge, near tin- tail, there are a number of small projections or hunches, 

 having sonic resemblance to the teeth of a saw. It has no dorsal fin or hump on its hack." 1 



Douglass, writing in 1748, also mentioned the Scrag and the humps upon its body. 



Cope has formed for this whale the genus Agaphclus, and it stands in the lists under the name 

 Agujihilim i/iliboxtix [Krxl.| Cope. 



The Sera;,' is of special interest on account of its influence in first developing the whaling 

 industries of Nan tucket. Macy, the historian of the island, states that in the very eai 1\ days of t hat 

 colon.N. prior to KIT. 1 , -A whale of the kind called the Scragg came into the harbor and continued 

 there t In ve days. This c veiled the curiosity of the people and led them to devise measures to prevent 

 his return out of the harbor. They accordingly invented and caused to b wrought for them a 

 harpoon with which they attacked and killed the whale. This ftrst success encouraged them to 

 undertake whaling as a permanent business; whales being at that time numerous in the vicinity 

 of the shores." ' 



Scummon remarks: "Our observations make it certain that there is a 'Scrag' Right Whale in 

 the North Pacific which corresponds very nearly to that of the Southern Ocean, - - - and 

 which yields a paltry amount of oil." 3 No identification of this form has yet been made. Dieffen- 

 bach states that in the southern seas "Scrags" is the whalers' name for the young of the right 

 whale. 4 



16. THE CALIFORNIA GRAY WHALE. 



DISTRIBUTION. The California (hay Whale, Rhachianecteg glauctu Cope, called by whalemen 

 "Devil-fish," " Hard Head," " Gray Back," "Hip Sack," and " Mussel Digger," though long known 

 to fishermen, was first described in 18(59, from specimens brought to the United States National 

 Museum by ('apt. W. H. Dall, of the United States Coast Survey. The only account of its habits 

 is in Scainmon's Itook, already often quoted. Its range is from the Arctic Seas to Lower Cali- 

 fornia. From November to May it is found on the California coast, while in summer it resorts to 

 the Arctic Ocean and the Okhotsk Sea. In October and November it is seen off Oregon and 

 Upper California, returning to warm water for the winter. 



HABITS. They follow close along the shore, often passing through the kelp, and congregate 

 in the lagoons of the southern coast, where they are the objects of the extensive lagoon or bay 

 whale fishery. 



ABUNDANCE. Their abundance in former years and at present was thus discussed by Captain 

 Scaminon in 1874: "It has been estimated, approximately, by observing men among the shore 

 whaling parties that a thousand whales passed southward daily from the 15th of December .to the 

 1st of February, for several successive seasons after shore whaling was established, which occurred 

 in 1851. Captain Packard, who has been engaged in the business Cor over twenty years, thinks 

 this a low estimate. Accepting this number without allowing for those which passed oft' shore out 

 of sight from the land, or for those which passed In-fore the 15th of December, and after the 1st 

 of February, the aggregate would be increased to 47,000. Captain Packard also states that at the 

 present time the average number seen from the stations passing daily would not exceed forty. 

 From our own observation upon the coast, we are inclined to believe that the numbers resorting 

 annually to the coast of California from 185;? to 185(5 did not exceed -1(1,0(10 probably not over 

 30,000; and at the present time there are many which pass oft' shore at so great a distance as to 



'Ai.i.K.N : Mammalia of M:i-.:n hu-.-tts. <I!iilli-tin of the Mum-urn of Comparative Zoology, 8, p. 203. 



-MACY: llismrv of Nantiickct, p. 28. 



"SSCAMMOX: loc. eil., p. 67. 



4 JDiBFPKMiAcu, E. : Travels in Now Zealand, i, 1843, p. 45. 



