38 CALIFORNIA MAMMALS. 



Genus Globicephala Lesson. (Ball — head.) 

 Dorsal fin long-, low, curved ; pectoral fins long, tapering 

 curved ; head globose ; mouth oblic[ue ; rostrum very short and 

 broad; teeth 7 to ii, large, in front half of jaws; vertebrae 57 

 to 60. 



Globicephala scammoni Cope. (For Captain C. M. 



Scammon. ) 



SCAMMON BLACKFISH. 



Size large; form stout; pectoral fins long, slig-htly curved, 

 pointed; skull large and massive; color entirely black. 



North Pacific Ocean. 



"Blackfish are generally found wherever Sperm Whales re- 

 sort, but in many instances they congregate in much larger 

 numbers, and range nearer the coast than the regular feeding 

 ground of the latter. Although subsisting almost entirely on the 

 same kind of food — the squid or octopus — still at times, when 

 schools of them visit bays or lagoons, they prey upon the small 

 fish swarming in those shallow waters. In Magdalena Bay we 

 have seen them in moderate numbers, appearing as much at home 

 as the Common Porpoise or the Cowfish. They collect in schools, 

 from ten to twenty up' to hundreds, and when going along on the 

 surface of the sea there is less of the rising and falling move- 

 ment than with the Porpoises, and their spoutings before 'going 

 down' are irregular, both in number and time between respira- 

 tions. If the animal is moving quickly much of the head and 

 body is exposed. \A'halemen call this going 'eye out.' In low 

 latitudes in perfectly calm weather, it is not infrequent tO' find a 

 herd of them' lyi-ng quite still, huddled together promiscuously, 

 making no spout and seemingly taking a rest. 



"On the 14th day of December 1862, on the coast of Lower 

 California, in latitude 31 degrees, land ten miles distant, a school 

 of Blackfish was 'raised.' The boats were immediately lowered 

 and gave chase, and three fish were taken. The largest was a 

 male and measured as follows: Length 15 feet 6 inches. Depth 



