288 



NATURAL HISTORY COLLEGTION^S IX ALASKA. 



from where lie started the game, aud takes positiou where he cau commaud a broad piece of forest. 

 The Moose makes a wide circuit, aud very frequeutly returus close by his euemy, aud falls a victim 

 to this habit. Dressed moose-skius are used for making lodge-covers, clothiug, aud cords. 



The introductiou of flre-arms amoug the natives has rapidly diminished this fine animal, and 

 its extinction in Alaska is but a matter of comparatively a few years. 



According to Petrofi', the Moose crosses the Alaskan mountains and is found on the Pacific 

 slope about Kenai Peninsula. 



Delphinapterus catodon (Linn.). White Whale (Esk. S^-toulc). 



lu one of the two skulls of young females obtained at Saint Michaels the primitive shape of 

 the teeth is well shown. The principal mass of the tooth consists of an irregular, compressed cyl- 

 inder of cement. From the top of the cylinder protrudes the tongue-shaped extremity of the small 

 rod of dentine which forms the core of the tooth. In the older specimen the dentine core is worn 

 down to level of the cement, the top of which is also worn away so that the whole tooth is conical. 



The proportions of the skull vary so much in the White Whale that comparisons of these young 

 sijecimens with others from the North Atlantic are of no especial value in throwing light on the 

 question of the nnmber of existing species of Delphinapterus. 



List of sjtecimeiw. 



Measurements. 



Total len fjtli { £;ie''itest ) 



Lensth of beak from base of tuasiUary notcbea --- 



Breailth of lieak at base of ootcbes 



Breadth of beak at its luiddlo 



Breadtli of inrenoasillaries at same point 



Greatest breadth between outer luargius of iuierm axillary prosimally 



Length of snpeiior tooth-line 



Last tooth to base of maxillary notch 



Tip of ]>eak to anterior margin superior nasal opening 



Tip of beak to cxtremit v oTpteryiioids 



Breadth between orbital processes of frontal 



Breadth between hinder margins of temporal fossa? 



Length of temporal fossa 



Depth of temporal fossa 



Total length of mandible 



Length of symphysis of mandible 



Length of tooth-row of mandible 



Depth between angle and coronoid process . . 



Number of teeth 



Museum number, I Museum number, 

 22207; collector's ' 22208; collector's 

 number, 2C8 $. ' number, 209 9- 



Blo(jrai)Mcal notes. — This species is the most abundant as well as one of the smallest cetaceans 

 found along the Alaskan coast north of the Aleutian Islands. From Bristol Bay noi'th to Point 

 Barrow and thence east to the mouth of the Mackenzie Eiver it is a common summer resident. It 

 is particularly numerous about the mouths of rivers, and frequently ascends the larger streams far 

 above tide-water. The severe Arctic winters force them to become migratory over much of their 

 range. They move south in fall as the pack-ice comes down from the north in October, and winter 

 in large numbers on the coast of Bering Sea from Cape Vancouver south. They appear to have a 

 far greater liking for the mouths of the fresh- water streams and shallow coast, such as are found on 

 the American side of Bering Sea and the Arctic, than for the cold and deep water found on the 

 Siberian shore. 



