Characters.— The characters of the genus are exemplified in this species, the
most noticeable feature being the prominence behind the nares and the elevation
of the maxillas, especially in the case of old males. ‘ The younger males/ says
Axel Ohlin,1 ‘ are much like the females, especially remarkable in the shape of the
head, which ends with a nose or bill; behind that part it rises more or less
perpendicular, forming a considerable convexity. In the old male this part or
“ forehead,” as it is named very incorrectly by the whalers, falls down quite vertically
as a flat, oblong surface, and in some very old individuals separated from the bill
by a little incurvation. In the younger and in the females the “ forehead ” is lower
and more convex. . . . The beak has some resemblance with a duck-bill, and
is really by several authors compared with such an organ. In the older males it
is shorter than in the younger and females. The margin of the mouth is a little
curved, like an S.’
Vertebrae 43. The formula, according to Mr. Beddard, is :— C. 7 ; D. 9; L. 9;
Ca. 18. Cervicals fused; the last sometimes free. Sternum consisting of three
pieces, the last of which is bifid posteriorly. The sternal ribs permanently cartilaginous.
Pectoral fin small and rounded.
The number of gular grooves appears to be a matter of uncertainty, though
it is usually one pair. Length of males, twenty-five to thirty feet; females, twenty
to twenty-four feet. Axel Ohlin, who carefully studied these Whales when on a
cruise in the northern seas, speaks of the colour as follows:
‘ The colour is in the younger over the whole body black or greyish-black
with a leaden-grey tinge. In the older soon appear in the lower parts of the body
and at the sides white or yellow-white spots, which become the more numerous
the older they are. In the old females the white spots are confluent, especially
in the belly, which is therefore marbled or almost a uniform yellow-white.
Moreover, these are very often provided with a white band round their necks;
then they are called by the Norwegian whalers “ ringfiskar,” i.e. fishes with a ring.
The old male, the ‘‘ tcendebund ” of the Norwegian, is easily recognised by the
quite white “ forehead.” This colour extends, with irregular but very definite
borders, more or less backward to the eye and over the whole beak. The dorsal
fin and a circle around the exterior opening of the ear are also white. According
to the accounts of authentic whalers, the oldest and largest Bottle-noses become
yellow-white over the whole body. I have seen but once such a “ whitefish.” ’
In the anterior part of the lower jaw of the old male are two small conical
1 Some Remarks on the Bottle-nose Whale (.Hyperoodon), by Axel Ohlin (Lund 1893).
teeth about an inch in length, which are fixed to the bone by dense fibrous tissue.
About these cluster a cirriped {Conchoderma auritum), as if to prove how useless
these teeth are. Some young males have two pairs of small teeth, hardly visible
above the gum. In female and young individuals there are often found , five or
six very small teeth rudimentary along each side of the upper jaw. In the lower
jaw similar undeveloped teeth are also sometimes, present.1
Distribution. — The Bottle-nosed Whale is a very common species in the
North Atlantic and Arctic Seas.2 Curiously enough, it is exceedingly rare on the
Finmark coast, but is met with in large numbers about Spitzbergen, Jan Mayen,
Iceland, Nova Zembla, East and West Greenland, Davis Straits, and the coast
of Labrador. Off Newfoundland it is a rare species,8 but is occasionally stranded
on the American shores. In the Faroe Islands it is a well-known species and
subject to constant persecution. In southern waters it is represented by a form
which is considered, with little reason, to be specifically distinct. At present we
have no records of its appearance in the Pacific Ocean.
The whalers say that in the early spring this Whale has a more northern
distribution than at other seasons. At midsummer it migrates southwards, and
this view is supported by the abundance of these Whales about Faroe and the
Shetlands during the summer months.4 Off the Orcadian coast it is also common,
but has seldom been captured there, and to the neighbourhood of the northern
Scottish coast it is a regular though somewhat scarce visitor.5 Further south it
is one of the most frequently stranded Whales. In the Clyde it is not uncommon,
and on its autumn migration southward it has been so often stranded on the
east coasts of Scotland and England that it is unnecessary to mention instances.
Many have been recorded from the west coast of England, from Wales and Ireland,
and others from our southern shores, and on several occasions— as for instance
in 1783 and 1891— examples have entered the Thames.6
1 A good description of these teeth is given by Sir William Turner (Froc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edinb. ix. pp. 40-43: 1885-86).
a They have a special preference for the edge of the Gulf and the Arctic stream, where the water is subject to great
differences o f temperature. They do not hesitate to enter the cold water in the neighbourhood of the ice.
3 j have come across only one instance of the occurrence of the Bottle-nosed Whale in Newfoundland. Captain
Nilsen saw a strange Whale playing round his vessel near the St. Lawrence in June 1904. He shot it, and it proved to be
an old male of this species.
4 j have seen numbers of these Whales in the Sound of Yell in Shetland and a few in the ‘ Bring’ between Hoy and
Pomona, Orkney.
» Every Whale smaller than a Rorqual is called a ‘ Bottle-nose ’ by the North British seamen, but the appellation is in
nearly every case inaccurate.
6 Sir William Turner (op. cit. pp. 25-47) gives a list of many British occurrences; his paper is of special value, for he
corrects some oft-repeated errors of date and locality.