EARLY RECORDS AND RECENT LITERATURE 41 



hunt the krill-eating right and humpback whales in its sheltered bays and inshore waters. It is first 

 definitely mentioned in January 1820 by Bellingshausen (1945) who refers to its abundance in the 

 Antarctic seas and its importance as the food of penguins. The British sealer, Richard Sherratt (1821), 

 noted it as the food of both seals and penguins while Weddell (1827), during his historic southern 

 voyage of February 1823, reported several instances of surface discoloration strongly suggestive of 

 those that are now known (p. 149) to be caused by dense surface concentrations of the krill. Webster 

 (1834), surgeon of H.M. Sloop 'Chanticleer', refers to its great abundance in the South Shetland area 

 and describes how gorged adult penguins feed their chicks with it by regurgitating the contents of 

 their stomachs. He describes too the mortality among the ' shrimps ' that drift into the hotter parts 

 of the steaming littoral of volcanic Deception Island and are cast up in large numbers on the shore. 

 The logs of John Biscoe (1831), John Balleny (1839) and John McNab (1839),! Balleny's second 

 mate, contain several references to surface discoloration in circumstances that again suggest the 

 sighting of krill patches, McNab's entry on the day of the discovery of the Balleny Islands, 'water 

 very much discoloured, and whales in shoals', being perhaps the most suggestive. Jacquinot (1842), 

 surgeon of the French corvette ' Zelee ', records it as the food of penguins and is the first to mention 

 it as the diet of the southern baleen whales and of the Crabeater seal, adding that it was well known 

 to the right whalers of his time. He is the first to recognise it to be a euphausian, a new species he 

 thought of Thysanopoda, and the first to call attention to its occurrence in immense shoals ('bancs') 

 giving a reddish tint to the sea. He records its 'extreme abundance ' (in 1838) in the western Weddell 

 drift region and recognised it was this abundance which attracted large numbers of whales, right, 

 humpback and blue, to this locality. Wilkes (1852) also notes it as the food of penguins, records its 

 abundance near the Antarctic mainland south of Australia in January 1840 and, like Jacquinot, states 

 it was this no doubt that drew the whales in such large numbers to these high latitudes. It was one of 

 Wilkes's officers. Lieutenant Totten of the U.S.S. 'Porpoise', who in February 1840 collected^ the 

 first specimen oiEuphaiisia superba to be scientifically described, and the original coloured drawing of it 

 by Dana (1855, PI. 43) is based on colour notes and a sketch by this officer.=^ Ross (1847) notes it as 

 the chief food of the Crabeater seal. Dickson (1850), surgeon of H.M. hired barque 'Pagoda', 

 comments on the 'innumerable whales ' and flocks of birds that were to be seen ofFEnderby Land and 

 remarks on the ' muddy ' discoloration of the water that was encountered both there and in the 

 Weddell drift, especially in the neighbourhood of the pack. The German sealer, Eduard Dallmann, 



^ Published in extract in The Antarctic Manual (1901). 



2 Jacquinot states that the French expedition collected several specimens in 1838, but except for his statement that it 

 apparently belonged to a new species of Thysanopoda there is no description of them. 



^ Banner (1954) notes that the type specimen originally described and figured by Dana is lost, that his description is 'broad' 

 and does not mention many of the characteristics now considered important and that the figure itself is small and lacking in 

 detail. On these grounds he proposes that the name Euphausia superba Dana be regarded henceforth as a nomen dubiunt, 

 unavailable for future use, and that the matter should be referred to the International Commission on Zoological Nomen- 

 clature. I hesitate to think that such a drastic step will be necessary, for although Dana's description is perhaps broad his 

 figure at least is unmistakably that of E. superba. Lieutenant Totten's specimen was collected some time in February 1840 

 in 66° 05' S, 157° E, a position not far from the Balleny Islands, and both in colour and form Dana's original drawing presents 

 a remarkably lifelike picture of this very large euphausian for which much of the credit must be given to the accuracy of the 

 collector's observation, colour notes and sketch. It is of an animal 2 in. (about 50 mm.) long, and, although Dana does not 

 say so, from the slender shape of the carapace and the powerful development of the expodites of the thoracic limbs, it is clearly, 

 as Bargmann (1937, PI. i) shows, that of a fully mature aduh male. I am perfectly satisfied, therefore, that Dana's drawing 

 can only be referred to E. superba and that his well-chosen name should stand. From its size alone, as well as position of 

 capture, this early figure could not in fact be referred to any other species. It is of historical interest, however, that in his 

 Synopsis Generum Crustaceorum Ordinis ' Schizopoda\ in which his original brief description appeared, Dana (1850) gives the 

 position of Lieutenant Totten's specimen as 'prope long, orient. 150° et lat. aust. 60°'. This in fact (p. 60, Fig. 5a) is well 

 outside the northern range of the krill in this meridian, the round figure for the latitude evidently being a mistake which he 

 put right (Dana, 1852) in his longer and better known description which appeared two years later. 



