478 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



A hand-cut section of blubber was made through one of the scars and stained with 

 Sudan III. The section was photographed and is shown in Plate XXXVII, fig. 3. This 

 photograph demonstrates very clearly the presence of a large number of fibres which 

 radiate downwards and sideways from the white mark on the skin. In some whales 

 it would be impossible to sample the blubber without including some of these 

 fibres, and consequently it can be seen that the whole method of sampling is liable to 

 grave errors, as the presence or absence of these fibres undoubtedly has a very large 

 influence on the oil content of blubber. 



It seems, therefore, that the results obtained by chemical investigation depend largely 

 on the presence of fibre in the blubber and cannot be taken as an index of blubber 

 condition. 



