2S4 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



Plate XLV. The diagonally hatched areas show where marking has been chiefly conducted 

 and where most whales have been marked. There is a comparatively small area of 

 intensive marking around South Georgia and, around the Shag Rocks, a smaller area, 

 of seventy miles radius, indicated by denser cross-hatched shading, where more than 

 600 have been marked. There are two other extensive areas in which relatively large 

 numbers of whales have been marked, one off Queen Mary Land (85-95 E) and a 

 second, much larger, extending westwards from Enderby Land (15-50 E). In addition, 

 whales in smaller numbers have been marked over an immense area connecting and 

 extending these principal regions ; on the chart the continuous longitudinal lines show 

 where this marking has been relatively dense, the broken lines where it has been sporadic. 

 Blue whales have been marked around South Georgia chiefly between east and south 

 of the island. On the pelagic grounds the majority have been marked in the most 

 easterly part of the area and off Enderby Land. Very few Blue whales have been marked 

 to the west of the Greenwich meridian except those around South Georgia. Fins have 

 been marked over the whole area, but least in the extreme east. The large numbers of 

 whales marked around the Shag Rocks are exclusively Fins, and many more have been 

 marked in the South Georgia region. Humpbacks show the most localized distribution. 

 The greatest number of this species has been marked off Queen Mary Land, where they 

 constitute a large proportion of the total. Some have been marked in the diagonally 

 hatched area lying athwart the 30 E meridian, but there they are more scattered than 

 in the east. The only other region where they have been met in any abundance is off 

 Adelaide Island in the Bellingshausen Sea, where a number have been marked in a 

 comparatively small area. 



RETURN OF MARKS 



Marks have been found in various ways. Complete penetration does not always 

 occur, and in these instances the mark remains protruding from the animal and so is 

 readily seen. Such marks have been observed in whales before even the whale gunner 

 has fired his harpoon, and they have been easily collected after the whale has been 

 secured. As explained earlier, any mark noted as protruding and not returned has been 

 considered to be lost from the whale and so is not included in the totals of marked whales 

 given in Table I. The majority of the marks returned are, however, found when the 

 whale is being handled on the " plan " by the flensers and lemmers. Should they escape 

 detection at this stage of the treatment of the whale carcase they usually come to light 

 in the various apparatuses employed in working up the blubber and meat. 



In addition to the return of the actual mark as found, data concerning the marked 

 whale are asked for. Forms are supplied to the whaling companies to be filled in with 

 the details of each whale found to be bearing a mark. A facsimile of one of these forms 

 completed with the required data is given, Fig. 1. In the majority of cases it is possible 

 to supply all the information required, but when a mark is not found until it reaches 

 the boilers only the date and approximate position of capture may be available. These, 

 however, are the essential facts, and the species can be ascertained from the notes 



