2 66 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



the Weddell Sea, but they do add to the picture already built up here in that they show 

 movements in a reverse direction to those already discussed. We already had in one 

 whale (No. 4091) a link between South Georgia and the Greenwich meridian; but 

 another (No. 105 1 5/17) shows movement between the same regions, but from east to west. 

 A similar case is that of a whale (No. 10240) marked in the South Shetlands and taken 

 on the South Georgia grounds. Two whales (Nos. 10308, 10577) marked in the wide 

 region between Bouvet Island and the South Sandwich Group have been recovered to 

 the south-west and complement an earlier recovery (No. 1233). It is possible that 

 the movements shown by these three whales (Nos. 10308, 105 15/17, 10577) are very 

 similar to those which might have been shown to take place during the course of a single 

 season. The strong tendency to move westwards is noteworthy. Movements of the 

 whaling fleet given in the Hvalrddets Skrifter (Nos. 3, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 18, 20) show, over 

 several seasons including 1938-39 when these whales were taken, that the region between 

 o and 20 W is forsaken towards the end of the season by the factory ships, as though the 

 whales of this region had moved elsewhere. The whale (No. 10240) marked in the 

 Bransfield Straits and recovered near South Georgia may have again been on its way to 

 the South Shetlands, and, in fact, the track shown on the chart may easily have been that 

 of movement during the season if the arrow indicating direction were reversed. This 

 whale was captured very early in the season (6 December) and so had ample time to 

 reach the South Shetlands if the opportunity had remained. A second whale (No. 1 1030) 

 from near the South Shetlands has also identified itself with the Weddell Sea-South 

 Georgia whales. This whale was one of a school of Fin whales numbering about twenty, 

 most of which were marked one afternoon in the middle of January. They were very 

 noticeable and distinctive even at that time of the year by their fatness and sluggish 

 manner and in the possession of a very heavy and complete diatom film. How long they 

 had been on their feeding grounds it is, of course, impossible to say, but they had every 

 appearance of having already spent a considerable time in the Antarctic. It seems 

 doubtful whether these whales moved eastwards, into the mouth of the Weddell Sea 

 between 40 and 50 W that season, for none were captured, although very large numbers 

 of Fin whales were taken there towards the end of the season, many of them inferior to 

 and less attractive than these. 



The appearance, at the mouth of the Weddell Sea, after twelve months, of Fin whales 

 from the Bellingshausen Sea is of great interest. The identity of stock between the South 

 Georgia-Weddell Sea grounds and the South Shetlands-Bellingshausen Sea grounds 

 may be considered fully established. On the other hand, the recovery of these marks also 

 strengthens the possibility of different streams of movement into the Weddell Sea region 

 and supports the suggestion that in 1937-38 a stream of whales from the west reached 

 the South Orkneys and beyond. The recognition of a close identity of stock over a 

 wide area presents no difficulties, but the unravelling of a complex network of streams 

 of movement or migration, many, doubtless, fusing and dividing, changing from season 

 to season, is beyond the scope of whale-marking accomplished at present and many of 

 the suggestions put forward in this paper must yet be looked upon as very tentative. 



