BREEDING AND LIFE CYCLE 269 



to be examined was too much decomposed for any certain observations, but the other three all bore 

 the raw stalks of umbilical cords. The first two calves were possibly only a few hours old when taken. 

 The ' clear yellow fluid ' in the stomach of one, and the ' yellow opalescent fluid ' in that of the other, 

 may well have been the ' witches' milk ' or colostrum which in mammals precedes the true milk at the 

 first suckling. The third had an empty stomach, and although this animal could conceivably have been 

 delivered prematurely during the mother's convulsion when lanced, nonetheless its size compares 

 closely with the sizes of the other two. The brown liquid in the hind gut of these calves is not neces- 

 sarily the faeces of a nursing milk diet, but may be the meconium, relics and waste material of foetal 

 growth. The presence together of colostrum and meconium would make such infants new-born indeed. 



40 



30 



3 

 0) 



o 



Z. 2 '° 



o 



10 



00 



• Foetal lengths 



O Average monthly foetal lengths 



* Neonatal lengths 



40 



30 



-20 



- IO 



OO 



r° — r" — r """V" — r" — r 1 — r^ — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i — i i i i i i i 



Jan Feb Mar Apr May J un. Jul. Aug. Sep Oct Nov. Dec Jan, Feb Man Apr May J un Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec 

 Fig. 6. Foetal growth curve for foetuses measured at Horta from 1949 to 1954. 



Table 22. New-born calves examined by Mr B. Storehouse at Cais do Pico 



in August 1 95 1 

 Length 



^ 



Remarks 



Raw stalk of umbilical cord present, 6 in. long. Stomach contained 

 a yellow opalescent fluid : there were no squid beaks or parasites. 

 The hind gut contained a dark brown cloudy liquid 



Raw stalk of umbilical cord present, 6-7 in. long. Stomach con- 

 tained a clear yellow fluid : there were no squid beaks or parasites 



Raw stalk of umbilical cord present. Stomach was empty, without 

 squid beaks or parasites. The hind gut contained a brown liquid 



Very badly decomposed 



When the lengths of the neonates including the fourth, decomposed one, are plotted in Fig. 6, the 

 extrapolation of the mean curve of foetal growth is seen to pass precisely through the point representing 

 the mean neonatal length, which in the figure is point B, the point of birth. 



From the length of the largest foetus recorded in Table 21 and the smallest neonate in Table 22, 

 the length of the new-born sperm whale (at least in the North Atlantic) is seen to range from 371 m. 

 (12 ft. 2 in.) to 4-10 m. (13 ft. 4 in.), and the average length for the five measurements is 3-92 m. 

 (12 ft. 10 in.). Included within this range is the length of a neonate which Wheeler (1933) examined 



