Right Whale, or Black Whale (Biziews This whale resembles the `ell/bead in general appearance, but the head smaller and less arched, and the whalebone %hurter, or only about seven feet long. Near the and of the snout is a low rounded protuber ance, called the "bonnet* by whalers. This !wort is covered with barnacles, which are not found adhering to the bowhead. The black whale, as its name implies, is usually entire!) black but some individuals have been reported as whitish or grayish on the throat and When full-grown it reaches a length of about 5.1 feet. Like the bowhead it feeds upon crusta ceans and pteropod mollusks. The species been nearly exterminated, but in former days it appeared regularly in the Bay of Biscay in win ter and migrated northward to Iceland and northern Norway in spring. On the North American coast it ranges, or did range, as far south as Georgia in winter and toward the close of that season, or in early spring, ap in DelawareBay and otT the coast of Island and Massachusetts, and later in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. A few still appear quite regularly off Long Island.
There is every reason to believe that this whale was the object of pursuit of the earliest whale fishers among the Basques in the Bay of Biscay in the Middle Ages. It was the species on which the American Colonial shore whale-fishery was based. So persistently was it pursued, however, that for many years it was supposed to be extinct and no remains which could be identified with it were to be found in any museum. Within the last 25 years, a few individuals have appeared every spring otf the cast coast of the United States, and a few have been captured, or have stranded, on the coasts of southern Europe and Iceland. As the right whale does not occur within the tropics, it been questioned whether the large species ob served about New Zealand, in the North Pacific and in other waters is the same as that of the North Atlantic. Opinion is at present divided on the subject, but it is generally conceded that the real differences between the right whales of the northern and southern temperate seas, if any, have yet to be pointed out. The Atlantic right whale, like the bowhcad, feeds upon pteropod mollusks and crustaceans.
Pygmy Right Whale of New Zealand (Neobalena niarginata).— This is a remark able little whale, resembling the large right whales, but reaching a length of only about 20 feet It has a small dorsal fin, but no abdominal ridges or furrows. The whalebone is long and white. In color the whale is black, with a line of white along the belly. It has many osteo logical peculiarities, among which one of the most striking is the flatness and breadth of the ribs, of which there are 17 pairs. The lumbar vertebrx are only two in number. Little is known of the habits of this whale.
Sperm Whale (l'hyseter This whale, as already stated, belongs to the 01outoceti, or toothed whales, one of the two main divisions of the order Cetacea, which in lades also the porpoises, river-dolphins and ottleisosed or beaked whales. But one species
of sperm whale is known. When full-grown the male reaches a length of 60 or 65 feet. but the female is much smaller. The head is of immense size, and is shaped like an elongated wedge with the base uppermost, and the edges and free end rounded. The blowhole is single and situated at the end of the snout on the left side. The lower jaw is very narrow and much shorter than the upper, and the two sides are joined together anteriorly for about one-half the length. In it are implanted about 44 large conical teeth which fit into pits in the upper jaw when the mouth is closed. There are no teeth in the upper jaw. The back is without a fin, but is raised into a number of low ir regular humpsposteriorly. The pectoral fins are broad and about six feet long. In color the sperm whale is blackish above and somewhat mottled with gray below. It occurs in all seas except the Arctic and Antarctic, but is essen tially an animal of the tropics. The herds or schools are diversified in character, some coin prising only young bulls; others, females and young led by an old bull, etc. At times old bulls are encountered wandering singly or in Mall groups. These old males are ill-tempered and pugnacious, and do not hesitate to attack the boats of the whalers. The sperm whale feeds upon large cuttlefish which its great strength and powerful eth supposed to enable it to dislodge r treats at the bottom of me sea.
Bottlenosed Whales, or Beaked Whales (family Ziithiider).— This family comprises four or five genera of small whales, none of them exceeding about 30 feet in length. Several species of each genus have been described, but many of them appear to be without a certain foundation. Like the sperm whale, they belong to the suborder Odomtoceti, or the toothed whales. They never have, however, more than four teeth regularly implanted in the jaws, but some species have numerous minute rudi mentary teeth imbedded in the lips. The head of all the forms, at least in the young, is pointed, the dorsal fin low and placed far back toward the flukes, the pectoral fins narrow and of moderate length. In the bottlenosed whale of the North Atlantic (Hyperoodoit the forehead gradually increases in size with i age, until it is sharply marked off from the narrow beak, like the shoulder of a bottle. The species congregates in large herds and is eagerly sought by whalers for its oil. The beaked whales of the remaining genera Metopiodort, Berardi's', and Ziphitt.t, are far less abundant. They travel in pairs. Hyperoodes is peculiar to the North Atlantic, Berardias occurs only in Bering Sea and about New Zealand, while Mesopiodos and Ztrhists appear to be cosmo politan genera. The beaked whales subsist upon cuttlefish.