1897.] THE TUSKS OP TRICttECHUS OBESCS. 267 



in the Pacific species the tusks descended almost vertically, in the 

 Atlantic species they were quite uniformly sti'ongly incurved " 

 (Allen, op. cit. p. 168). 



In reply to enquiries of Mr. Sclater as to what Cetaceans and 

 Seals besides Otarm he had met with in the Pacific, Mr. Barrett- 

 Hamilton stated that he had not observed many Seals. 



Seals of the genus Phoea (probably P. vituUna) were common in 

 Tareinski Harbour, near Petropaulowsk, and there vvei-e Seals at 

 St. Paul Island (Pribiloff group) which seemed to be very much 

 larger than the common P. vituVma of the Atlautic. Mr. P. A. 

 Lucas, of Washingtoa, had procured a specimen of the latter, and it 

 was possible that the species would be described as a new one, but 

 there was no doubt that it was very closely allied to P. vitalina. 



The form of P. vituliaa met with on the coast of California had 

 been described as a species in 1866 by Gill, under the name of 

 P. peaJel, bat this separation had not been accepted by later writers. 



Of Cetaceans he had seen the common Porpoise, which is 

 abundant at San Francisco. Another species, Phoccena dccUi, was 

 found on the Alaskan coast. 



Dolphins he had seen frequently, but all were probably of the 

 widely-distributed and pelagic species, Delpliinus clelphis. 



Killers {Orca gladiutor) were common in the autumn in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Seal Islands, and probably eat large numbers of 

 the Fur-Seals. They usually swam in small companies very close 

 together, and Mr. Barrett-Hamilton stated that at the Komman- 

 dorski Islands he had been within a few yards of a pair in a boat. 

 The dorsal fin of some specimens hangs downwards in a very 

 curious way as if it had been broken near the tip. 



Captain Grarforth, of H.M.S. ' Pheasant, ' had informed Mr. 

 Barrett-Hamilton that on the 13th of September (1896) Killer 

 Whales were so numerous ofE Unimak Pass in the Eastern Aleutian 

 Isles, that he had to stop the ship several times to avoid running 

 into them. He thought it was no exaggeration to say that they 

 were there in thousands. 



The only other Whale which Mr. Barrett-Hamilton had met 

 with was a Humpbacked Whale {Meyaptera sp. inc.), which was 

 very numerous about Unalaska. It was supposed to be of a 

 different species from that found in the Atlantic, as was also the 

 Black-fish ( GlohiocepJialus) of the Pacific, but there had been nothing 

 positively settled on the subject. 



He had not met with Rhachianeetes glaueus, but had seen a few 

 Fin-backed Whales {Balcenoptera sp. inc.) near [Jnalaska. 



Some of the whalers had made good catches of the Nox'th Pacific 

 Blight- Whale (Balcena japonica) this year, and Sperm Whales 

 {Physeter) also occurred in the North Pacific. 



