13 



THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



The following table gives the recorded lengths of all 

 our Finners : 



Recorded lengths {in feet) of all Finnej'-ivhales captured at 

 Scottish Whalings tatioTis, 1 908- 1 9 1 4. 



We may summarise this table as follows, using the 

 statistical method of medians, quartiles, etc. : ^ 



The difference in size between the two sexes is not 

 great, but the females are perceptibly the larger (Fig. 13). 

 The median size of the males is 60 feet, that of the females 

 63 feet; the arithmetical means are, respectively, 595 feet 

 and 61-4 feet. The two largest males were ^6 feet long, the 

 longest female 82 feet; 3-3 per cent, of the males and 14-8 

 per cent, of the females measured 70 feet or over. One-half 



1 I may explain once again the simple statistical method here 

 employed. We give, firstly, the " extreme " lengths the lengths of 

 the smallest and largest individual fish. Then, supposing the whole 

 series to be arranged in order of magnitude, from the least to the 

 greatest, the " median " size is that of the fish half-way up the list ; 

 the two "quartiles" are those of the individual fish one-quarter and 

 three-quarters up the list. We might similarly include a full series 

 of "deciles" ; but those given are only the first and last, i.e. the sizes 

 of the fish which stand one-tenth of the way, and nine-tenths of the 

 way, up the list in order of magnitude. 



