Whales are found with healed broken bones which must have been incurred by fighting and other collisions. The skin of whales is mottled with scars which were produced by parasites and by fighting. Toothed whales are especially scarred from the raking by the teeth of an adversary during battles for dominance. For at least 5 centuries, man has preyed on the whale. In recent times navies of several nations have been alarmed by unidentified underwater objects which cannot easily be distinguished from submarines. Some of these contacts are produced by whales. The counter measures not only cost the whale its life, but also causes the navies unnecessary expenditures of depth charges and time, and produce considerable tension and anxiety. Inadequate Knowledge of Whales Whales have been extensively described both in popular and scientific writings. However, their story is by no means complete or correct. It will be many years before all the information can be obtained on these animals which range the wide oceans where man must study them under great disadvantage. Until man has the underwater mobility and maneuverability of whales, he will have to be content with surmise and interpretations based on limited observations. There is a great deal known about the anatomy and fine structure of whales. You can certainly admire the work of the early anatomists who persevered in dissecting the partially decomposed carcasses of stranded specimens. What a contrast to the opportunity afforded now to the anatomist who need merely be present on a whaling ship station to receive any part which he wishes to examine. It takes the whaling station 4 to 6 hours to butcher a whale completely. [Illustration: Close-up of a “spyhopping” gray whale. _Courtesy Scripps Institute of Oceanography._] Naturally, the whales which are currently the object of research are those which are commercially important and available. The California gray whale which would be convenient for study is no longer taken commercially. Permission would have to be obtained from the International Whaling Commission to secure even a single specimen, and a scientist could not easily obtain a specimen without the assistance of whalers. Fortunately, we know a great deal about the species as a result of an extensive monograph prepared nearly 100 years ago by Captain C. M. Scammon, who was among the first to whale this animal commercially. Professor Edward D. Cope described the species, giving it the name _Rhachianectes glauca_, after he examined a skeleton which had been shipped to him at the Philadelphia Museum.