Of the Barnegat City specimen, No. 20971, the Museum has the complete
skeleton, together with a cast of one-half of the entire animal, and
another of the head, and some measurements, all of which were obtained by
Mr. William Palmer and myself October 3, 1883. The Museum received notice
of the stranding of this specimen from Capt. J. H. Ridgway, of the United
States life-saving station at Barnegat City. It was an adult female, 19
feet 4 inches long in a straight line. The complete measurements, taken
in straight lines with a rod and cord, are as follows:
_External dimensions of Ziphius cavirostris, female, Cat. No. 20971,
U.S.N.M., Barnegat City, New Jersey._
(Measured in straight lines with rope and bar.)
Ft. in.
Total length 19 4
Tip of snout to eyes 2 1
Tip of snout to blowhole 2 0
Tip of snout to anterior base of pectoral fin 3 10½
Tip of snout to anterior base of dorsal fin 12 0
Tip of snout to anterior angle of vent 12 3½
Tip of snout to corner of mouth 11½
Length of anterior margin of pectoral fin 2 1½
Length along center of pectoral fin 1 7
Greatest breadth across pectoral fin 6¾
Length of anterior margin of dorsal fin 1 6
Length of base of dorsal fin 1 0
Vertical height of dorsal fin 1 0
Breadth of flukes from tip to tip 5 5
Antero-posterior length of flukes 1 7
Length of eye 2
Breadth of eye 1
Girth around eyes 3 1½
Girth at anterior margin of dorsal fin 7 0½
Girth at root of pectoral fins 6 0½
Breadth of lower jaw at middle of length 4½
Breadth of upper jaw at middle of length 5
Breadth of blowhole 5
Distance from posterior angle of eye to ear 4½
I neglected to make a full description of the color, but noted that it
was stone gray, lighter above and darker below; snout nearly white. The
cast, which was painted from a sketch made at Barnegat City and from
pieces of skin brought to Washington, bears out this note in general, but
with modifications. The color of the body as a whole is gray tinged with
dull yellowish. The gray is darker on the back than on the belly, but on
the latter is a large area of dark brown, reaching from near the pectoral
fins to and beyond the anus, and halfway up on the sides. On this dark
area are several large oval whitish blotches, some two inches in
diameter. Both upper and lower jaws nearly to the angle of the mouth are
cream white. On the sides and belly the gray color is speckled with black
spots of about the size of a grain of wheat. The pectoral fins are dark
gray above and below; the flukes were similarly colored.
A comparison of the dimensions of the two specimens above described with
those of European and New Zealand specimens is afforded by the following
table (the measurements being reduced to percentages of the total
length):
_External dimensions of Ziphius cavirostris. (Reduced to percentages of
the total length.)_
Column Headings:
A: Newport, Rhode Island 49599 U.S.N.M., male, 1901.
B: Barnegat City, New Jersey, 20971 U.S.N.M., female, 1883.
C: New Brighton, New Zealand, female.
D: Punta, Corsica, 1842.
E: Buenos Ayres, Argentina, male, 1865.
Measurements. A[a] A[b] B[b] C D E
Ft. in. Ft. in. Ft. in. Ft. in. Ft. in. Ft. in.
Total length 20 1 18 6 19 4 19 6 19 0 12 11½
Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent.
Tip of snout to 69.0 74.8 67.2 [67.1] [78.5] [70.8]
posterior margin
of dorsal
Tip of snout to 25.3 28.0 [c]20.0 [d]24.4 ... [c][25.0]
axilla
Tip of snout to eye [k]12.2 13.3 10.8 12.8 ... 10.9
Tip of snout to 11.2 12.6 10.4 ... ... 11.4
anterior end
blowhole
Length of mouth 5.4 5.9 [e] 5.0 6.4 ... [ f] 5.3
Breadth of blowhole 2.3 2.5 2.2 2.6 ... 1.2
Length of pectoral 10.8 11.7 ... [g]12.8 ... ...
from head of
humerus
Length of pectoral [h]7.5 8.1 [hi]8.1 ... [g] 8.3 8.6
from axilla
Greatest breadth of [j]2.4 [j]2.6 2.9 3.0 2.9 3.0
pectoral fin
Vertical height of 4.1 4.5 5.2 3.4 3.5 4.3
dorsal fin
Breadth of flukes, 26.1 28.4 28.0 31.2 ... 27.3
tip to tip fin
[a] Curvilinear.
[b] Straight.
[c] To anterior base.
[d] Lower jaw to “beginning of pectoral.”
[e] From tip of upper jaw.
[f] From tip of lower jaw.
[g] Points of measurements not specified.
[h] From the bones; from outer anterior margin of proximal expansion of
ulna.
[i] Along center.
[j] From the bones. The external measurement originally taken by
Scollick is entirely too large.
[k] The skull gives this measurement as 10.4 per cent. The original
measurement by Scollick is entirely too large and can not be
correct. The same is probably true regarding length to
blowhole, but I can not prove it.
The close correspondence in proportions shown in this table favors the
idea of specific identity, and taken with the similarity in size, and
characters of the skull, warrants, I think, the assumption that the
specimens from the Atlantic coast of the United States belong to _Z.
cavirostris_.