On August 21, 1909, after an unusually severe gale for the season, accompanied with heavy sea, a beaked whale was stranded under the cliffs of the northeast coast of St. George Island. Its position was such that it was reached with great difficulty. It was undergoing decomposition. I succeeded in getting the following information:
Sex, female. Length from tip of beak to end of body, 22 feet. Length of beak, tip to base, 2 feet 5 inches. Length of head, not including beak, 2 feet. Length of tail, or width of flukes at base, 1 foot 10 inches. Girth around beak at its base, 2 feet. Girth around body at dorsal fin, about 12 feet. Girth around body at base of tail, 3 feet. Spread of tail, or flukes, 6 feet. Length of dorsal fin at base, 1 foot 10 inches. Fore fins, 1 foot 10 inches.
I think that I shall not be able to get the skeleton of this whale, owing to the rough seas prevailing.
HISTORY OF THE CENTERVILLE, CALIFORNIA, SPECIMEN.
The Californian specimen (Cat. No. 49725) was first made known in a letter addressed to me by President Jordan, of Stanford University, under date of October 27, 1904, inclosing one from Mr. J. H. Ring, of Ferndale, California, dated October 23, 1904, which was as follows:
Enclosed find three views of an animal stranded on the beach near this place [Ferndale, Humboldt County, California], and as its identity seems rather uncertain we hope you will kindly classify it and inform us of its true name and habitat, if possible, from the photographs and incomplete description. Its total length is about 41 feet. Greatest circumference 16 feet, tapering probably to 18 inches near the tail. It also tapers toward the head, terminating in a sharp beak, the upper jaw being about 16 and the lower 19 inches long.
On each side in the lower jaw well to the front is a conical tooth, the crown of which is exposed one-half an inch. The head is full and rounded, resembling that of an elephant, with depressions corresponding to the ears, and small eyes a little ahead and below.
On top of head is a heart-shaped opening, evidently for breathing purposes. There is also evidence of a dorsal fin, while each fork of tail is 3½ feet or so long. The underside of the animal is too bruised to show anything of importance. The flippers are also in bad shape, one being buried in the sand, while the other is entirely denuded of flesh, leaving a bony stump about 6 inches long and which moves readily in any direction. We think it is a “bottle-nose” whale, but as some claim that they are not to be found on this coast and do not exceed 30 feet in length, it may be something else.
Mr. Ring was immediately communicated with, and very generously presented to the Museum the skull of the animal, which he had secured and cleaned with much labor and some danger to himself. He also undertook to have the skeleton cleaned and sent to Washington, and it was received in due course in June, 1905. Mr. Ring wrote under date of May 15, 1905:
You will notice that the point of the beak, as well as the points of the lower jawbones, are a little damaged, some hunters having shot the teeth out and then set a fire inside the jaws.
When received, the skeleton lacked the flippers and also two of the teeth. Regarding the former, Mr. Ring wrote on November 18, 1905, as follows:
I wrote you that one flipper was entirely gone and the other worn down to a stump, as shown in the picture. I have interviewed the man who stripped the specimen, and he says the stump was badly crushed and broken and fears it was lost one night when the extremely high tide had turned the whale over, and only the anchors and lashings I had secured it with prevented its going out to sea.