THE FISHERIES AND FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF 



THE UNITED STATES. 



m: A. ]Sd: ]y: ^ L s . 



A.— THE WHALES AND PORPOISES. 



1. THE SPERM WHALE. 



Distribution. — The Sperm Whale, Physeter macrocephalus Linn., was first described by 

 Clusius in 1605 from specimens cast up on the coast of Holland in 1598 and 1601. It is the Cachalot 

 of the French, the Pottflsch of the Germans, Potvisch or Kazilot of Holland, Kaskelot or Potfisk 

 of Scandinavia, and one of the most valuable of cetaceans. Sperm Whales occur in every ocean, and 

 though preferring warmer waters, are to be found at times close to the limits of the arctic regions. 

 In the Pacific they have been taken off Cape Ommany, Alaska, latitude 56° 12', and in the Atlantic 

 as far north as Scotland and Orkney, and perhaps even Greenland. In both Pacific and Atlantic 

 they range below the southern tips of the continents and are believed to pass freely from ocean to 

 ocean, around Cape Horn, though they are said never to round the Cape of Good Hope. Murray 

 states that they have been seen and captured in almost every part of the ocean between latitude 

 60° south and 60° north. He mentions that they have been recorded as found off" the north of 

 Scotland but no further, though he gives some credence to ancient authors who mentioned their 

 having been seen off Greenland. 



Beale, writing in 1836,' gave a list of their favorite resorts. It is interesting to compare the 

 range of the species as then understood with their present range as indicated by the locations, and 

 this comparison has been carefully made by Mr. A. Howard Clark, in the chapter on The Whale 

 Fishery, in a subsequent section of this report. In discussing the facts before him, Murray" 

 expresses the opinion that almost everyplace which has been mentioned as a favorite resort of the 

 Sperm Whales, although out of soundings, has claims to be considered the site of submerged lands. 

 The islands of Polynesiai, which are their special feeding ground, are the beacons left by the sub- 

 merged Pacific continent. " They are also to be seen," he continues, " about the equinoctial line in 

 the Atlantic Ocean, but they would seem to be either straggling 'schools' which have rounded 

 Cape Horn, or unprospering colonies. It is from these that the specimens which have been occa- 

 sionally met with in the North Atlantic or in the English seas have wandered. They have been 

 now and then cast ashore, and then they are usually in an emaciated condition. They seem to be 

 unprepared for, or not to be adapted for, shallow seas. Accustomed (perhaps not individually, but 



' 1836. Beale, Thomas : Natural History of the Sperm Whale. London, 1836, p. 180. 



' 1866. Murray, Andrew : The Geographical Distribution of Mammals. London, 1866, p. 212. 



(7) 



