The series of photographs (Cat. No. 142579) of an individual obtained in
Kiska Harbor, Alaska, is very interesting as affording comparison of what
is apparently a specimen of _grebnitzkii_ with the Atlantic form
represented in the photograph of the Newport, Rhode Island, specimen. As
no part of the Kiska specimen was preserved, it is not possible, of
course, to identify it positively with _grebnitzkii_ or even with the
genus _Ziphius_. No one who compares the photographs reproduced in Pl.
41, figs. 3 and 4, can, I think, fail to be convinced that both represent
animals of the same genus and that the Pacific species (whether
_grebnitzkii_ or not) bears the strongest possible resemblance to the
Atlantic one.
Doctor Egbert published the following note on the Kiska specimen in 1905:
Early in September a monster dolphin grounded on the beach in Kiska
Harbor and was killed. Specific identification has not yet been made.
The general color was bluish-gray; length, 18½ feet; estimated weight,
3,600 pounds; sex, male. Body was quite regular in shape and rather
rotund, the greatest circumference being about midway between dorsal
fin and tip of the rather short snout. This dolphin was hauled
alongside the ship, stripped of its blubber, and the oil extracted.
Some of the flesh was eaten. The oil obtained was of excellent quality.
It was particularly desired for use on the wire of the deep-sea
sounding machine used aboard the [U. S. Coast Survey steamer]
_Patterson_.[47]
The size was about the same as that of the Newport specimen. Although
Doctor Egbert gives the color merely as “bluish gray,” the photographs
indicate that the belly was white, or whitish, and that there were oval
white spots on the sides. As a whole, therefore, the coloration was
similar to that of the New Zealand specimens of _cavirostris_ obtained at
Port Cooper and Lyttleton Harbor.
When compared with the photograph of the Newport specimen (Pl. 41, fig.
4) it will be seen that the Kiska photograph represents an animal
practically identical in general form, as well as in the general shape of
the head, the length and form of the snout, the size and general shape of
the pectoral fins. In the photograph of the Newport specimen the flukes
are not well seen, but in the Kiska photograph the posterior median
convexity peculiar to the ziphioids is clearly represented. The dorsal
fin of the Newport specimen appears to be turned somewhat to one side and
the tip crumpled, which makes it appear lower and somewhat longer and
less pointed than that of the Kiska specimen. This may, of course, be a
real difference, though such is probably not the case.
Considering the foregoing data relative to _grebnitzkii_ as a whole,
there is not in my opinion sufficient warrant at present for considering
this form as a species distinct from _cavirostris_, and it should be
added that no distinguishing characters were given in the original
description.
Genus BERARDIUS Duvernoy.
Of this genus the National Museum has three skulls and three skeletons
representing the species _bairdii_, and a skull representing the species
_arnuxii_. The latter, Cat. No. 21511, U.S.N.M., is without exact
locality, but is catalogued as having been obtained in New Zealand. As
the species _arnuxii_ has been well described and figured by Flower[48]
and others, no detailed account of this skull is given here. Measurements
of it, however, are included with those of _B. bairdii_ in the table on
p. 68.
BERARDIUS BAIRDII Stejneger.
_Berardius bairdii_ Stejneger, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 6, p. 75,
June 22, 1883.
_Berardius vegæ_ Malm, Bihang K. Svenska Vet. Akad. Handl., vol. 8,
1883, No. 4, p. 109.[49]
This species was based by Dr. L. Stejneger on a skull obtained by Mr. N.
Grebnitzki in Stare Gavan, on the eastern shore of Bering Island,
Commander Group, Bering Sea, in the autumn of 1881. In 1879 a portion of
a skull of the same species was found on Bering Island by the _Vega_
expedition, and was made the basis of a new species, _B. vegæ_, by A. W.
Malm, the description of which was published a few months after that of
Doctor Stejneger. The National Museum subsequently received another skull
from Bering Island, through Mr. N. Grebnitzki, but, so far as I am aware,
nothing further was heard of the species until 1903 and 1904, when the
National Museum received three nearly complete skeletons, two of them
from St. George Island, Pribilof Group, Bering Sea, and one from the
coast of California. The material now in the National Museum is as
follows:[50]
(1) _Cat. No. 20992_.—Skull and mandible of an immature individual
collected by Dr. L. Stejneger in Bering Island. Original number 1520.
Catalogued November 24, 1883. Type.
(2) _Cat. No._ (lacking).—Skull and mandible of an immature individual.
Collected by Mr. N. Grebnitzki in Bering Island (?). Mounted.
(3) _Cat. No. 142118_.—Skull, mandible, and cervical vertebræ of a very
young individual. Collected by Dr. L. Stejneger, June 5, 1883, on North
Rookery, Bering Island. Original number 2191. This specimen is
accompanied by notes and measurements.
(4) _Cat. No. 49726_.—Skeleton and measurements of an adult female. Near
East Rookery, St. George Island, Pribilof Group. Collected by James
Judge, in June, 1903. Length, 40 feet 2 inches.
(5) _Cat. No. 49727_.—Skeleton and measurements of an immature male. Same
locality and date as the preceding. Length, 25 feet 5 inches.
The two skeletons (4) and (5) are somewhat incomplete. The Museum
received a photograph of the female from Maj. Ezra W. Clark.
(6) _Cat. No. 49725_.—Skeleton and two photographs of an adult male (?)
stranded on Centerville beach near Ferndale, Humboldt County, California,
October, 1904. Length, about 41 feet.
A brief note on the St. George Island and California skeletons was
published by the author in Science for 1904.[51] The dimensions given by
the collectors were so large as to raise doubts whether they were
correct, but the arrival of the skeletons proved that they were not
overstated, and that the specimens were by far the largest ziphioid
whales ever discovered, the bones about equaling those of a humpback
whale in size and massiveness.