RESPIRATION IN SOUTHERN WHALES 



401 



Smell. The blood of all Rorquals has a peculiar pungent odour which can only be 

 described as resembling the smell of decaying Crustacea. This smell has been noticed 

 in the blood of pigs which have been fed largely on whale meat. 



Erythrocytes. Red corpuscles examined under the microscope appear as discs of 

 about the same size as human corpuscles. Occasionally they appear to be slightly 

 concave on one side and convex on the other. " Rouleaux " of corpuscles form in fresh 

 smears as in human blood. An attempt was made to study the rate of sedimentation by 

 Fahraeus' method, but accurate observations were impossible because all the samples 

 of blood were not of the same age. It was, however, noticed that the blood of pregnant 

 whales sedimented most rapidly, as does also the blood of pregnant human beings. 



Number of erythrocytes. Enumeration of corpuscles was made by the standard 

 method using a haemocytometer. The average of eleven samples was 3-84 million 

 corpuscles per c.mm. (in Blue whales). In drawing samples for corpuscle counts care 

 was taken to secure large volumes of blood from whale arteries in case local sedimenta- 

 tion had occurred in the vessels. The blood was well stirred and mixed before the 

 haemocytometer pipette was filled from it. 



Plasma chlorides. Twenty samples of blood (ten Fin and ten Blue whales) were 

 centrifuged to concentrate the corpuscles . A known volume of standard silver nitrate 

 was added to the prepared plasma, and the excess titrated against standard potassium 

 thiocyanate (Whitehorn's method). The average chloride content was equivalent to 6-98 

 mg. of sodium chloride per cc. of plasma. The silver nitrate was frequently standardized 

 against " Standard Sea Water " supplied by the Hydrographic Laboratory, Copenhagen. 

 The plasma chlorides were constant to within 5 per cent. Samples of Blue and Fin 

 whale blood were found to have identical plasma chloride contents. 



A NOTE ON THE COMPOSITION OF THE 

 ALLANTOIC FLUID OF BLUE WHALES 



Reducing sugar. All the samples of allantoic fluid which were taken for gas analysis 

 (Table II) contained a reducing sugar which was appreciable to taste and gave a strong 

 reaction with Benedict's reagent. Quantitative estimation of the sugar was made in three 

 samples by titration against standard Benedict's solution. The following results were 

 obtained : 



Takata (1922) found 22-5 g. of fructose per 1. in the allantoic fluid of a Sei whale and 

 9 "75 g- P^f '• 'ri that of a Sperm whale. No facilities were available for discriminating 

 between glucose and fructose in the results given above. 



Uric acid. Some samples of allantoic fluid were submitted to Mr A. Smith, chemist 



