~THIS VOLUME~
IS
DEDICATED
TO
~OWNERS OF SHIPS AND YACHTS,~
SEA CAPTAINS
AND
~ZOOLOGISTS.~
“It is always unsafe to deny positively any phenomena that may be
wholly or in part inexplicable; and hence I am content to believe
that one day the question will be satisfactorily solved”.--A. G.
MELVILLE. (_See p. 397 of the present volume._)
Voyagers and sportsmen conversant with photography are requested to
take the instantaneous photograph of the animal: this alone will
convince zoologists, while all their reports and pencil-drawings will
be received with a shrug of the shoulders.
As these animals are very shy, it is not advisable to approach them
with a steamboat.
The _only_ manner to kill one _instantly_ will be by means of
_explosive_ balls, or by harpoons loaden with nitro-glycerine; but as
it most probably will sink, when dead, like most of the Pinnipeds, the
harpooning of it will probably be more successful.
If an individual is killed, take the following measurements:--1.
Length of the head from nose-tip to occiput.--2. Length of the neck
from occiput to shoulders.--3. Length of the trunk from shoulders to
tail-root.--4. Length of the tail from tail-root to end.--5. Distance
from shoulders to fore-flappers.--6. Distance from shoulders to
thickest part of the body.--7. Length of a fore-flapper.--8. Length of
a hind-flapper.--9. Circumference of the head.--10. Circumference of
the neck.--11. Circumference of the thickest part of the body.--12.
Circumference of the tail-root.
Give a description of the animal, especially an accurate one of the
head, the fore-flappers and the hind-flappers, and, if possible, make a
sketch.
If but barely possible, preserve the whole skeleton, and the whole
skin, but if this is utterly impracticable, keep the cleaned skull,
the bones of one of the fore-flappers and those of one of the
hind-flappers, four or five vertebrae of different parts of the
backbone, neck, and tail; and preserve the skin of the head, and a
ribbon of about a foot breadth along the whole back of the neck, the
trunk, and the tail.