AN UNDESCRIBED WHALE. 5 
description applied to a whale distinct from the Orca, which was spoken of always as a 
“ piebald whale,” or “a whale marked with white patches.” 
This high-finned whale, however, of which I am now speaking, is without doubt 
an otherwise undescribed species, confined perhaps in its distribution to the Antarctic 
seas. On January 28th, 1902, we saw three together off Ross’s Great Ice Barrier, and 
on February 8th, 1902, again four more of the same kind. They were all of them 
wholly black above, but had some white about the mouth or chin. In length they 
were from 20 to 30 feet. But the most striking characteristic about them was 
the disproportionate height of the dorsal fin, which was erect, pointed, and sabre- 
shaped, and stood, so far as we were able to judge, from three to four feet high. 
In all but one individual this fin curved slightly backwards, but in one the 
concavity of the curve was towards the head (see Whales, Pl. L., fig. 2a). The “spout” 
appeared simultaneously with the appearance of the tip of the fin, and the nose, which 
was square and blunt, came well out of the water immediately after (see Whales, Pl. L, 
fig. 1). As the head dipped under, the whole back and fin to its base was seen (see 
Whales, Pl. I., fig. 2). There is no possibility of mistaking this whale for another ; 
the length of the fin is approached only by the Orca, whose piebald colour affords 
an easy means of identification even at a distance. Its movements are also very 
much more slow and dignified than the rapid racing of a herd of Orca whales, and 
I have no hesitation in declaring it to be a new species of which no example has as 
yet been taken, though I cannot refer it to any known genus. 
HYPEROODON ROSTRATUS. 
Bottle-nosed Whale. 
Balena rostrata, O. F. Miller, Zool. Dan. Prod. (1776), p. 7. 
Ayperoodon rostratus, Flower, op. cit., p. 9. 
A whale yet remains to be mentioned which I identify nevertheless with much 
hesitation, as it is impossible to be confident without having had a specimen to examine. 
On February 25th, 1902, when the ice had broken back in McMurdo Sound to 
a point some miles farther South than our winter quarters, we were visited by a small 
herd of long-snouted black whales which made a great noise in blowing and splashing 
about at play. There were about six or eight together, and all were in a sportive mood, 
and one as we were watching “breached,” leaping clear of the water, in this way 
showing himself full length and broadside on against the sky. 
The sketch which is given (see fig. 3) was made upon the spot. The animal 
was some 20 to 30 feet in length, and wholly black above and below. The dorsal 
fin was a mere excrescence. In shape, the whale was long and slim, with a very 
prominent forehead and well-marked beak. 
Others of a similar kind were reported as “ Bottle-nosed Whales” by various 
officers of the relief ship ‘Morning,’ and these were seen at the edge of the fast ice in 
McMurdo Sound during February of 1903 and 1904. It seems, therefore, on the 
B2 
