620 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
CETACEA 
PHYSETERIDAE Sperm Whales 
Physeter catodon Linné. Sperm Whale 
Physeter catodon, Linné, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 76, 1758: Northern Ocean. 
Length about 50 feet (adult male); head enormous, about a third the total length; lower jaw 
with about 25 large teeth on each side, upper jaw toothless; color black with more or less white 
about the mouth. 
We were shown two teeth taken from a Sperm Whale that came ashore about 
a year previous to our visit (about 1925) some twenty-five miles south of Mon- 
rovia. These teeth were much worn down, the roots nearly closed, evidently 
from an old animal. 
DELPHINIDAE Dolphins and Porpoises 
No doubt a number of species of this family occur in the coastal waters of 
Liberia, but no specimens or exact records are available. On the return voyage 
from Monrovia, on November 11, when nearly off Cape Mount, a school ap- 
parently of Delphinus delphis, the common Ocean Dolphin, travelling in a long 
line abreast and rather leisurely, passed our ship. They were breaking water or 
jumping clear out with beautiful clean, curving leaps, entering the water again 
like arrows, with hardly a splash. We kept passing them headed across our track, 
as if in review. There may have been fifty or more. Late the same afternoon, 
a small number passed going in the opposite direction, possibly of another species. 
They were less active, rising regularly for breath, their dorsal fins cutting the sur- 
face, but only rarely did one leap.clear. They may have been a species of Pro- 
delphinus. On our previous cruise along this coast on July 2, we saw off Cape 
Verde an enormous school of similar dolphins at about 5 p. m., coming from the 
southeast and travelling in a north-northwesterly direction. They were in a long 
line that stretched from one-half to about three-quarters the distance across the 
horizon, and was perhaps two miles long. They made a great splashing on com- 
ing to the surface to breathe, some merely breaking water, others leaping wholly 
out. Those that jumped out either came up sidewise and soused back on their 
sides, or would come out in a nearly vertical position, falling back, tail first, 
while others still made clean leaps out, going in again head first. Those near at 
hand showed the dark saddle-mark, and so perhaps were Delphinus or Prodel- 
phinus. When passing our ship the nearest ones dallied a few minutes but all 
kept on in a long train till lost to sight on the horizon. The very definite direc- 
tion and steadiness with which they held to it were suggestive of purpose in this 
movement. 
REFERENCES 
Andersen, Knud. 
1912. Catalogue of the Chiroptera in the collection of the British Museum. Second edition. 
Vol. 1: Megachiroptera. 8vo, London, ci + 854 pp., illus. 
Bates, G. L. 
1905. Notes on the mammals of southern Cameroons and the Benito. Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 
vol. 1, p. 65-85. 
