42 3IARINE MAMMALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 



fins and about the abdomen. The posterior edge of the hump, in many examples, 

 is tipped with pure white. The megaptera varies more in the production of oil 

 than all others of the rorquals. "We have frequently seen individuals which yielded 

 l)ut eight or ten l)arrels of oil, and others as much as seventy -five; the length of 

 the animal varying from twenty -five to seventy -five feet. Most of these variations 

 may be attrilnited to age and sex, as the female with a large cub becomes quite 

 destitute of fat in her covering. These animals, more especially the smaller or 

 younger ones, are infested with parasitic crustaceans [Cyamus snffusas), which collect 

 in great numbers about the head and pectorals ; or, in case there are any wounds 

 upon the body, these trouljlcsome vermin are sure to find them. On the coast of 

 California-, in 185G, we captured a whale of ordinary size, which had many patches 

 of these parasites united almost in one mass upon that portion of the body which 

 was exposed when the animal came to the surface, and when "cut in" it proved 

 to have what is termed a "dry skin," the blubber being destitute of oil; this was 

 attributed to the alnmdance of these troublesome parasites. The Humpback has 

 also the largest barnacles adhering to, or imbedded in, the epidermis, about the 

 t^u'oat or fins. The habits of this whale — particularly in its undidating movements, 

 frequent "roundings," "turning of flukes," and irregular course — are characteristic 

 indications, which the quick and practiced eye of the whaleman distinguishes at a 

 long distance. Even when beneath the surface of the sea, we have observed them 

 just "under the rim of the water" (as whalemen used to say), alternately turning 

 from side to side, or deviating in their course with as little apparent effort, and as 

 gracefully, as a swallow on the wing. Like all other rorquals, it has two spiracles, 

 and ^vhon it respires, the l^reath and vapor ejected through these apertures form 

 the "spout," and rises in two separate columns, which, however, unite in one as 

 they ascend and expand. AVhen the enormous lungs of the animal are brought 

 into full play, the spout ascends twenty feet or more. When the whale is going 

 to windward, the influence of the breeze upon the vapor is such, that a low, bushy 

 spout is aril that can be seen. The number of respirations to a "rising" is exceed- 

 ingly variable : sometimes the animal l)lows only once, at another time six, eight, 

 or ten, and from that up to fifteen or twenty times. 



Although the Humpbacks are found in every sea and ocean, our observations 

 indicate that they resort periodically, and with some degree of regularity, to partic- 

 ular localities, where the females bring forth their young. It seems, moreover, that 

 large numbers of Ijoth sexes make a sort of general migration from the warmer 

 to the colder latitudes, as the seasons change. They go north in the northern 

 hemisphere, as summer approaches, and return south when winter sets in. 



