WHALES LANDED AT SCOTTISH WHALING STATIONS 229 



into two lots, the fat and the lean ; and there is a consider- 

 able gap between the two. Analysing them into their 

 several localities, we find as follows : 



Thus, exactly as in the case of the Nordcaper, the whales 

 caught in 1909 and 1912 were conspicuously lean, or at least 

 their recorded girths were conspicuously low in proportion to 

 their length ; but unfortunately the absence of any catch of 

 Nordcapers at all in 191 1, and the capture of a single one 

 only in 191 3 prevent our continuing or completing the 

 comparison. I can find no good reason for supposing that 

 these great discrepancies arise merely from different modes 

 of measurement in use at the different stations; the dis- 

 crepancies do not exist (as I have said already) in the case 

 of the Finner and Sei-whales. But if they do represent a 

 genuine phenomenon in the case of both the Nordcaper 

 and the Sperm, the fact is all the more curious and remark- 

 able in view of the very different diet of these two whales, 

 the latter living largely or mainly upon cuttle-fishes, the 

 former on the smaller plankton organisms. 



Some References to the Sperm-whale. 



1. Be: ale, THOMAS. The Natural History of the Sperm-whale, 8vo, 



London, 1838. 



2. Bennett, F. D. Narrative of a Whaling Voyage, 2 vols., 8vo, 



London {cf. vol. ii., p. 154). 



3. Browne, Sir Thomas. Notes on Certain Fishes and Marine 



Animals found in Norfolk; cf. also Pscudodoxia Epidonica, iii., 

 ch. xxxv i. 



4. Dudley, Hon. Paul. "An Essay upon the Natural History of 



Whales," Phil. Trans., xxxiii., pp. 256-269, 1725. 



5. Flower, Sir W. F. "On the Osteology of the Cachalot,' 1 Trans. 



Zool. Soc, 1868, vi., pp. 309-372. 



6. Gill, Theodore. " The Sperm-whales, Giant and Pygmy," 



Amer. Naturalist, 1871, iv., pp. 725-743. 



7. Guldberg, G. " Bemerkungen iiber das Auftreten und den Fang 



von Pottwalen an den nordeuropaischen Kiisten im letzten 

 Decennium," Nyt. Mag.f. Naturkid., 1901, xxxix., pp. 343-353. 



8. Harmer, S. F. "Reports on Cetacea stranded on the British 



Coasts," No. 4, 1916, p. 12 ; No. 5, 1917, p. 19, British Museum, 

 1917-1918 



82 2D 



