VOYAGE OF THE ‘ECLIPSE.’ 3 
numerous, all more or less stationary, and evidently feeding. 
They appeared to be going deep for their food, judging by the 
length of time they remained under water, and by their heavy and 
prolonged expirations while lying at the surface. Several herds of 
these whales swam round and round the ship, sometimes passing 
quite close under the stern; once I noticed the sunlight glance 
upon the breath of one, a beautiful but transitory bow being 
formed. Concerning one which we killed I made the following 
notes :— 
Sex.—Male. 
Colour.—Greyish black on the sides, shaded above to black along the 
ridge of the back, as well as towards the extremities and margins of the fins ; 
shaded below to greyish white along the surface of the throat and belly. 
Measurements.*—From a perpendicular erected at tip of jaw to base of 
beak, 1 ft.; to angle of mouth, 2 ft.; to “ blowhole,” 3 ft. 4 in.; to eye 
(centre of pupil), 3 ft. 6 in.; to auricular opening, 4 ft. 1 in.; to occipital 
condyles, 4 ft. 10 in.; to pectoral fins, 5 ft. 10 in.; length of pectoral fins, 
2 ft. 4 in.; greatest breadth of ditto, 8in.; to anterior end of base of 
dorsal fin, 13 ft. 10 in.; to posterior end of ditto, 15 ft.6in.; height of 
dorsal fin, 1 ft. 3 in.; to the most anterior part of the lobes of the tail, 
20 ft. 10 in.; to the most posterior part of ditto medianally, 22 ft. 10 in.; 
to the centre of a line joining the lateral tips of caudal fin, 23 ft. 8 in.; 
extreme breadth of caudal fin, 5 ft. 10 in.; girth at the eyes, 8 ft. 3 in.; 
at the neck, 12 ft. 7in.; at 3 ft. behind pectoral fins, 12 ft. 7 in.; thickness 
of blubber, 4 in. 
Contents of Stomach.—An immense quantity of cuttle-fish remains, 
mostly beaks and crystalline lenses, but there were a few almost entire, 
which I recognised as Gonotus fabricti, a cephalapod which seems to be 
largely preyed on by this whale. 
Parasites—A few Cyamus thompsoni attached to the skin of the fore- 
head, the angles of the mouth, and the upper surface of the lobes of the 
tail near their posterior margins. 
After reaching the ice, we commenced working northwards 
along its margin, now steering eastwards along an outlying point, 
again crossing a deep “‘ bight” in which the ice ran more to the 
westward. With reference to the whaling grounds which occupy 
a more or less central position, certain terms are used by the 

* The measurements referring to any of the cetaceans throughout these 
notes are, unless otherwise stated, between vertical transverse planes 
supposed to pass through the parts mentioned. 
B2 
