128 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



from the surface of the body, leaving open pits which are later healed over, leaving light- 

 coloured scars. All Sperm whales examined at African whaling stations had a greater or 

 lesser number of these open pits in various stages of healing, from new clean ones to 

 light-coloured depressed scars. All those examined at South Georgia bore the scars left 

 after the healing of the pits, but never open pits. The scars were always numerous, but 

 were, perhaps, not quite so plentiful as those found on the Rorquals. Several ages of 

 scars were often recognizable, but owing to the confusion of the older and less distinct 

 ones their presence gave little help in determining the ages of Sperm whales. When 

 found on whales in far southern latitudes, they serve as little more than an indication of 

 migration from warmer waters. 



INTERNAL 



Nematode worms occurred very commonly in the alimentary tract of Sperm whales 

 both at South Georgia and South Africa. They were found in seventy-four whales out of 

 seventy-eight in which the presence or absence of internal parasites was noted. They 

 were most frequent and often very numerous in the stomach, but were also found occa- 

 sionally in the intestine and in the oesophagus. Their presence in the latter organs may 

 have been due to wandering from the stomach after the death of the whale. Nematodes 

 from Sperm whales at Durban, Saldanha Bay and South Georgia have been identified 

 as Anisakis physeteris and, in addition, a new species, A. catodontis (Baylis, 1929), was 

 collected at Saldanha Bay. Specimens of nematodes were preserved, however, only on 

 a few occasions. Only once have other kinds of intestinal worms been recorded : m a 

 female at Saldanha Bay which contained a few '' Echinorhynchus sp." (probably a 

 Bolbosoma sp.). 



The only other internal parasite recorded from the present series of Sperm whales is 



Phyllobothrhim physeteris, which, in an encysted state, infests the blubber. There are 



fifty-four positive and only four negative records of its occurrence, and it was found both 



at South Georgia and South Africa. Infection was sometimes very heavy and the cysts 



were scattered throughout the blubber, no region being specially selected by the parasite 



(Plate X, fig. 3). 



REPRODUCTION 



THE MALE 



External genitalia. The reproductive aperture lies at a distance of 1 1 per cent of the 

 body length from the anus (Plate VI, fig. 2). The penis is large in proportion to the size 

 of the whale when compared with that of the Rorquals, and is usually completely pig- 

 mented: less frequently, pigment is present only towards the distal end (Plate III, 

 fig. 3). 



Testis. The testis of the Sperm whale is similar in general appearance to that of the 

 Rorquals, but is considerably smaller, the approximate volume obtained by multiplymg 

 together the length, breadth and depth in mature Sperm whales averaging 8460 c.c. 

 When the volume of the testis is plotted against the length of the whale as in Fig. 36, 

 a much closer correlation between volume and total length is seen than in the Whalebone 



