Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-04-03


The whale came to-day. It was brought
from Atlantic City by the United States express
company, tagged for delivery to the National
museum, and a big express wagon dumped it.
about II o'clock, on the ground in the rear of
the little building at the west of the Smith
sonian Institution. 1t took only a short time
for good portion of the population in that
vicinity to learn that the whale had arrived,
and the carcass was soon surrounded by
crowd of spectators. As a matter of popular
instruction an attaehe of the museum hastily
prepared a big poster or label, with the aid of
a marking brush, and attached it to an iron
railing near at hand. The words on it were:
Mesoplodon Sowerbiensis,
Sowerby's Whale,
Bottle-nosed Porpoise,
from
Atlantic City, n. J.
The whale does not belong to Sowerby. 1t
now belongs to the National museum. but Sow
erby the first man to describe it, and by
courtesy naturalists call it by his name.
HOW 1T WAS CAPTURED.
This whale was captured by the United States
life-saving crew at Atlantic City, n. j., last
Thursday. The whale came inside of the bar
and got into shallow water, where it foundered
about, unable to find its way out. The life
saving crew put out after it in boat, and after
wounding it in the throat with a knife or har-
pooh secured it with a stout rope and
tOwed 1T ashore. 1t was taken to At
lantc City and exhibited in a skating
rink, spectators being charged 10 cents head.
Meanwhile the National museum was notified of
the capture. An arrangement is in effect be-
tween the museum and the life-saving service
by which the whales captured or picked up
astray by the life-saving crews are sent to the
museum III case that institution wants them.
When notice was given of the capture of this
whale Prof. F. w. True, curator of the depart
ment of mammals started to Atlantic City in
person to see about its shipment here. Tlas
whale was recognized as a rare prize. The
whale was withdrawn from exhibition, after q
farewell benefit and shipped here intact, in
stead of being dissected on the spot. 1t arrived
this morning in good condition.
NOT BIG, But RARE.
The whale is not what would be called mon
ster in size. 1t is 121 feet in length and weighs
about 1900 to 1,S0O pounds. 1t is a full-grown
female. belonging to species that does not
attain great size. The males grow sometimes
to length OF 10 feet This whale is consd-
cred great prize by naturalists on account of
the rarity of animals of this kind. Professor
True said that this was the sixteenth
of its kind captured III the north At
character and occur i'll other seas, but this is
believed to be the first one ever seen by natu-
ralists. Such whales have been caught by
fishermen, and their skulls or portions of their
skeletons have been saved. There is skull of
one at Harvard, which was captured in 1867
The best known relative of the bottle-nose is
the sperm whale. The head of the whale is
small and terminates i'll long, slenders jaws.
forming proboscis from which its popular
name OF bottle-nose Is derived. The
males are marked by two teeth that stick I'D
out of the lower jaw, one on either side
Sometimes these teeth curved around or lap
over the upper jaw in such manner as to
make 1t doubtful whether the animal could
open its mouth. The bOttle-nose feeds it is
supposed, mainly on cutie fish. 1t has a breath
ing hole on top of its head and pair of small
eyes located well down on the side. The color
of the whale as it appeared to-day was black,
with light gravish shade on the belly The
color of the whale when in its natural element
is a dark gray. but the color changes rapidly,
after the animal is brought ashore.
PHOTOGRAPHS AND CASTS.
The whale was photographed soon after it
was brought to the museum grounds. Several
views were taken from a window above the spot
where the cetacean lay. Arrangements were in
progress this afternoon for taking cast of the
creature with view to having an exact
reproduction of it in size adm other respects
made in papier mache. For this purpose the
tail was cut off, as this part will be cast sepa-
rately. A plaster mold will be taken from one
side of the animal and then it will be turned
over and similar mold taken from the other
side. Separate casts will also be made of the
head with the mouth open. so as to show the
structure of the jaws. When this is done the
carcase will go to the PSYCHOLOGIST The flesh
will be stripped from the bones, which will be
placed in the macerating watts. In the course
of months they will issue forth glistening white,
be rearticulated by the PSYCHOLOGIST and
mounted, as a perfect skeleton in the depart
ment of mammals. Tonight, however, the
dead whale will be shrouded in some old bag
ging and recline under an old box, to protect
it from dogs and inquisitive small boys.