GILPIN PORPOISES AND DOLPHINS OF NOVA SCOTIA. 33 



Beluga catadon. 



White "Whale. 



Of this beautiful species I have only the report of our Indians, 

 of its casual appearance in the Bay of Fundy and on our coasts. 

 They call it a white porpoise, and all agree in its size and appear- 

 ance. They have a superstitious dread of it and never attack it. 

 There is a tradition of one having been stranded in the Digby 

 Basin many years ago. 



Our visitors are doubtless strays from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 where they abound and are fished for their oils. 



Globiocephalus intermedins. 



American Black Fish. — Bottle Nose. 



This species is common enough upon our coasts, but seldom 

 taken. They are too large for the Indians to attack, and their 

 habit of rushing to each other's support when wounded or stranded 

 makes them too formidable to be attacked from frail canoes. When 

 a large number of them appear off a harbour's mouth, in which 

 are many strong and well-manned boats, the boats go to seaward of 

 them and returning in close order upon them, by firing guns, loud 

 shouts, and splashing the water with their oars, the whole herd is 

 easily frightened and stranded. The whole settlement rejoices in 

 this rich harvest of oil — sometimes twenty are thus taken. 



One was stranded by the tide-way at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, 

 during the summer of 1873. The long falcate pectoral — the caudal 

 fin, and the skull and jaws are in the Provincial Museum, Halifax. 

 This fish has been confounded with the black fish of Europe, 

 (G. melas), (G. Svineval Gray), by DeKay, but is considered a 

 separate species by Gray from osteological differences. The skull 

 preserved at the Provincial Museum, Halifax, measures : — 



Length 2 feet. 



Width widest part 1 " 7 inches. 



Length of Lower jaw 1 " 9 " 



Width of lower jaw at condyle 6£ " 



Teeth in lower jaw extended 7 " from tip. 



The largest tooth 1 " 



3 



