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Show 1897.] THE TUSKS OF TRICHECHUS OBESUS. 267 in the Pacific species the tusks descended almost vertically, in Atlantic species they were quite uniformly strongly incurved " (Allen, op. cit. p. 168). In reply to enquiries of Mr. Sclater as to what Cetaceans and Seals besides Otarice he had met with in the Pacific, Mr. Barrett- Hamilton stated that he had not observed many Seals. Seals of the genus Phoca (probably P. vitullna) were common in Tareinski Harbour, near Petropaulowsk, and there were Seals at St. Paul Island (Pribiloff group) which seemed to be very much larger than the common P. vitullna of the Atlautic Mr. F. A. Lucas, of Washington, had procured a specimen of the latter, and it was possible that the species would be described as a new one, but there was no doubt that it was very closely allied to P. vitullna. The form of P. vitullna met with on the coast of California had been described as a species in 1866 by Gill, under the name of P. pealei, but this separation had not been accepted by later writers. Of Cetaceans he had seen the common Porpoise, wdiich is abundant at San Francisco. Another species, Phoccena clalll, was found on the Alaskan coast. Dolphins he had seen frequently, but all were probably of the widely-distributed and pelagic species, Delphlnus delphls. Killers (Orca gladiator) were common in the autumn in the neighbourhood of the Seal Islands, and probably eat large numbers of the Fur-Seals. They usually swam in small companies very close together, and Mr. Barrett-Hamilton stated that at the Komman-dorski Islands he had been within a few yards of a pair in a boat. The dorsal fin of some specimens hangs downwards in a very curious way as if it had been broken near the tip. Captain Garforth, of H.M.S. ' Pheasant,' had informed Mr. Barrett-Hamilton that on the 13th of September (1896) Killer Whales were so numerous off Unimak Pass in the Eastern Aleutian Isles, that he had to stop the ship several times to avoid running into them. He thought it was no exaggeration to say that they were there in thousands. The only other Whale which Mr. Barrett-Hamilton had met with was a Humpbacked Whale (Megaptera sp. inc.), which was very numerous about Unalaska. It was supposed to be of a different species from that found in the Atlantic, as was also the Black-fish (Glohlocephalus) of the Pacific, but there had been nothing positively settled on the subject. H e had not met with Rhachlanectes glaucus, but had seen a few Fin-backed Whales (Balcenoptera sp. inc.) near Unalaska. Some of the whalers had made good catches of the North Pacific Bight-Whale (Bcdcena japonlca) this year, aud Sperm Whales (Physeter) also occurred in the North Pacific * |
