SOUTHERN RIGHT WHALE i»i 



The palate is a narrow ridge between the baleen plates, with an expanded area at its 

 anterior end. The tongue is comparatively small and muscular. 



The blubber is thick, and softer than that of other large whales. 



Right whales are very heavily infested with cyamid parasites, which occur particularly 

 on the callosities of the head, but are not confined to them. Barnacles are the only 

 other external parasite recorded. 



Internal parasites similar to those of Blue and Fin whales were found in one Right 

 whale at South Georgia. 



The food of this whale at South Georgia is the same krill, Euphausta superba, eaten 

 by other whales. 



Notes on the internal and external genitalia of both sexes are given. From an ex- 

 amination of the ovaries and mammary glands it is concluded that the Southern Right 

 whale is polyoestrous, with two to three dioestrous cycles and three to four ovulations 

 at each sexual season after the first. 



The species, like other whales, reaches sexual maturity long before it reaches physical 



maturity. 



Notes on the behaviour of the Southern Right whale, observed at close quarters when 

 it was playing in shallow water in a bay of South Georgia, are given. 



RIEFERENCES 



Allen, J. A., 1908. The North Atlantic Right Whale and its near Allies. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., xxiv, 



Art. XVIII, pp. 277-329. 

 Andrews, R. C, 1908. Notes upon the external and internal anatomy of Balaena glacialis Bonn. Bull. Amer. 



Mus. Nat. Hist., xxiv, Art. x, pp. 171-82. 



1909. Further notes on Eubalaena glacialis. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., xxvi, Art. xxi, pp. 273-5. 



Beddard, F. E., 1900. A Book of Whales. London, 1900. 



Chaplin, J. M., 1932. Narrative of Hydrographic Survey Operations in South Georgia and the South Shetland 



Islands, 1926-30. Discovery Reports, in, pp. 297-344. 

 COLLETT, R., 1909. A few notes on the Whale Balaena glacialis and its capture in recent years in the North 



Atlantic by Norwegian Whalers. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1909, pp. 91-8. 

 Harmer, S. F., 1928. The History of Whaling. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. 1928, pp. 51-95. 

 HiNTON, M. A. C, 1925. Report on the papers left by the late Major Barrett-Hamilton, relating to the whales 



of South Georgia. Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, 1925, pp. 57-209. 

 Lonneberg, E., 1906. Contributions to the fauna of South Georgia: I. Taxonomic and Biological notes on 



Vertebrates. Svenska Akad. Handl., XL, No. 5. 

 Matthews, L. H., 1932. Lobster Krill. Discovery Reports, v, pp. 467-84. 

 MiLLAis, J. G., 1906. The Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. in, London, 1906. 

 Ommanney, F. D., 1933. Whaling in the Dominion of New Zealand. Discovery Reports, vii, pp. 239-52. 

 Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on Research and Development in the Dependencies of the Falkland 



Islands. Cmd. 657, H.M. Stationery Office, London, 1920, pp. 1-164. 

 RiDEWOOD, W. G., 1901. On the Structure of the Horny Excrescence, known as the Bonnet, of the Southern 



Right Whale (Balaena australis). Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1901, pp. 44-7. 

 Townsend, C. H., 1935. The Distribution of Certain Whales as shown by the Logbook Records of American 



Whale Ships. Zoologica, xix, pp. 1-50. 



