WHALING IN SCOTLAND FOR 1907 71 



as herrings were very late in appearing on the west coast of 

 Shetland. 



I could only hear of three Pennella balcenopterce having 

 been observed this year. But a curious parasite, somewhat 

 resembling a taenia, was found under the blubber of a 

 whale's abdomen. The flenser said it was living when 

 taken out. I sent it to Professor Arthur Thomson, Marischal 

 College, Aberdeen. 



Finners are plentiful at South Georgia, about 55° S. lat., 

 as are also B. sibbaldii. 



On 3rd August two whales were brought to the Alexandra 

 station, which had been feeding on a small species of Gadus 

 about the size of anchovies. 



In the uterus the head of the fcetus lies next the vagina. 



I got the sexes of foetuses kept for me, and, taking the 

 average of B. musculus and B. borealis, I find the proportion 

 of males and females is just equal. As more bull whales 

 are killed than cows, it confirms me in my opinion that the cow 

 whale is more timid than the bull and avoids danger. To- 

 wards September the size of the fcetus increases greatly, and 

 leads me to think that birth takes place in October and 

 November. Among the contents of the stomachs of B. 

 musculus^ cuttle-fish are found ; one observer reporting 

 " small white fish," probably the species of Gadus referred 

 to above. Owing probably to the cold spring, the first 

 Finners had an unusual quantity of blubber, and the farther 

 one goes north the fatter the whales get. 



There has been more outcry this last year that killing 

 whales injures the herring fishing ; yet no one can explain 

 why it should do so, and most say there is no proof that it 

 does so. The complainers seem to forget that the migration 

 of fishes, and especially of herrings, is a complex and little 

 understood subject. Temperature, currents, salinity of the 

 sea, must all be considered ; while, to quote from the Second 

 Report of the North Sea Investigation Committee (1907, 

 p. 28) : " In the northern area of the North Sea, during the 

 summer months, we thus have the inflowing salt Atlantic 

 water bounded by surface layers of Continental coast water 

 on the one side and of fresh Scottish coastal water on the 

 other. The changes in the relative distribution of these 



