WHALES LANDED AT SCOTTISH WHALING STATIONS 23$ 



identical in size. The median size was 71 feet for males 

 and about 69J- feet for females ; one-half of the males lay 

 between 65 and 76 feet, one-half of the females between 64 



40 50 60 70 % 



Ratio of girth to length. 

 FlG. 5. Percentage ratio of girth to length, in the 109 Blue-whales 

 captured in the Scottish Whale-fishery, 1908-1914. 



The average girth of the Blue-whale is about half of its 

 total length ; there is a considerable range of variation, but 

 the individual values are grouped fairly symmetrically and 

 fairly closely about the mean (Fig. 5). In one female, 

 JJ feet long, captured off Muckle Flugga in June 191 1, the 

 girth is given as only 24 feet, or 31 per cent, of the length; 

 at the other extreme we have a female of 70 feet captured 

 off St Kilda in September of the same year, with a girth 

 of 45 feet, or 64 per cent, of its length. But such extreme 

 cases are few, and one-half of all our one hundred and nine 

 Blue-whales have a recorded girth between 46 per cent. 



