6 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



VI. Thf Fin nek or Common Rorqual 



{Bnlcenoptera imisailus, auctt. ; B. physalus, Fabr, ; B. rorqjial, 



Lacep. ; Physalns antiquorum, Gray). 



The Common Rorqual, the " Firmer" of our whalers, the 

 Finhval, Rorhval or Sildchval {i.e. "herring-whale"), or 

 sometimes Loddehval, of the Norwegians, forms the greater 

 part of the catch at all our Scottish whaling-stations. 

 Between the years 1908-14, 2409 Finners were caught out 

 of a total catch of 3969 whales ; that is to say, Finners 

 constituted 63-2 per cent., or nearly two-thirds, of the entire 

 catch. 



The sexes are on the whole equally balanced, 49-3 of the 

 whole number being males during the period we are con- 

 sidering, viz. from 1908 to 1914. If we include the four 

 preceding years, for which we have in this case enough 

 material to hand in Mr R. C. Haldane's papers,^ the propor- 

 tion of males works out (for the whole eleven years) at 51-7 

 again a close approximation to equality. 



Finner-wha/es captured dui-ing 1904- 1907. 



The proportion of males to females varies a good deal 

 from year to year, and its variations seem to be quite 

 irregular or fortuitous. When we take the proportions of 

 the sexes not from year to year but from month to month, 

 over the whole available period (1908-1914), we find a greater 

 appearance of regularity ; the tendency on the whole being 

 for the proportion of males to increase as the season advances, 

 at least until the month of August. The catch during 

 September tells the other way, but the numbers in that 

 month are very small. 



The table (p. 7) gives a condensed list of all the captures. 



' Mr Haldane's figures for 1907 do not include the catch at Olna 

 station, where the Finners are simply recorded as " many," and those 

 for 1904 do not include Bunaveneader, where thirty-seven Finners were 

 caught but the sex was not recorded. 



