226 



THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



a general (though not quite an unbroken) rule that the shoals 

 which come to our northern latitudes consist exclusively of 

 males, and of males very much of a size, many small as well 

 as very large individuals being conspicuous by their absence, 

 or at least their rarity. 



The following are the recorded lengths of our forty-one 

 (male) Sperm-whales : 



The mean length is 53-5 feet; the median length is 

 53 feet; the quartile lengths (i.e., the limits between which 

 lie one-half of the whales measured) are 49 feet and 

 55 feet. Mr Haldane records the length of a few individuals 

 from the catch of former years, viz., a large bull whale 

 captured by the Norrona station in 1903, 68 feet, and six 

 captured in 1904, of 50, 55, 55, 56, 56, and 59 feet. The mean 

 length of these seven individuals was considerably higher 

 than ours, viz., 57 feet, but they had been with little doubt 

 selected for their unusual size. 1 



Beale records a Sperm-whale 84 feet long, the largest 

 actually measured ; and another, of 76 feet (by 38 feet in 

 girth) is recorded by Mr F. W. Bennett. Sir William 

 Flower relates that " no single specimen of all the different 

 skeletons or fragments of skeletons, some of which were 

 quite aged, examined by me give any evidence of a greater 

 length of skull and vertebral column than 55 feet, if quite 

 so much"; and he was inclined "to question whether the 

 Cachalot frequently, if ever, exceeded the length of 60 feet 

 when measured in a straight line." It will be seen that 

 though many of our Scottish specimens are recorded as 

 being over 55 feet, and even over 60 feet long, yet when we 

 make due allowance for these measurements being made 

 over the curve of the body, our larger specimens tally very 



1 Ten specimens (all males), taken at Blacksod, had the high average 

 length of 57 feet 3^ inches : J. E. Hamilton, "Report on the Belmullet 

 Whaling Station," Brit. Ass. Report, 1914 (Australia), p. 146. 



