^^o. 473] 



SOWERBY'S WHALE 



bidens became entangled in the pound-nets about a mile offshore 

 from North Long Branch, New Jersey. It was rather exhausted 

 when found, and was towed with some difficulty by two large 

 power pound-boats to the beach, where it was secured by a rope. 

 It soon died owing to injuries received during its capture. 



"The total length of the specimen was said by the fishermen 

 who measured it, to have been 22 feet. The coloration was very 

 peculiar. The entire upper surfaces were slaty blue-black, the 

 lower surfaces somewhat lighter. The sides and belly were dotted 

 with numerous white spots, each varying from one to three or four 

 inches in diameter. On the throat these patches became more or 

 less confluent and very irregular in outline." 



With some difficulty, Mr. Barbour succeeded in having photo- 

 graphs of this animal taken, two of which are here reproduced. 

 The first of these (Fig. 1) shows the whale lying on its left side 

 with the ventral portion toward the observer. The spindle-shaped 

 form of the body, the small pectoral limb, and the beak-like snout 

 are fairly well seen. As the anterior part of the animal's body was 

 shaded by a canvas awning, the light spots and irregular throat- 

 markings are distinctly seen in the photograph without' the addi- 

 tion of light areas due to reflection, such as sometimes appear in 

 photographs of parts taken in direct sunlight. The two diverging 

 gular sulci are very well shown at the right-hand end of the figure, 

 and are clearly not confluent at their anterior inception. One of 

 these sulci (the lower in the figure) seems to be open, as though 

 stretched apart by the dragging of the left side of the head. Fig. 

 2 is a view of the top and right-hand side of the head. The single 

 crescentic blowhole with its extremities directed forward, is seen 

 at a ; what appears to be the right eye is seen at h. The very 

 small mandibular tooth (c) is seen barely projecting from the 

 gums and its small size indicates that the animal was probably a 

 female. The lower jaw is clearly longer and broader than the 



of the mouth. 



The skull of this spccin.on wa. s.ruml at .-onsuKM-ahlo rrouhle 

 by Mr. Barbour, a.ul pivsnitc.l l>y lu.n to the Musru.n of 



manclibles an.l ' the mstral portion, however, were subsequently 

 destroyed by an imfortunate accident. 



