SPECIES OF WHALEBONE WHALES 201 



members of the staff who have taken part from time to time in the collection of data 

 at whaling stations are Dr F. C. Fraser, Dr J. E. Hamilton, Mr L. H. Matthews, Dr 

 F. D. Ommanney, Mr G. W. Rayner, Mr A. Saunders, and Dr J. F. G. Wheeler. 

 Dr Ommanney also worked in the 'Salvestria' in 1939-4°. and Mr p - R - Crimp, 

 who conducted similar work in the ' Hektoria' (1939-40) and the ' Svend Foyn' (1940- 

 41), has generously placed his data at the disposal of the Discovery Committee. 

 Mr Rayner's report on whale marking was written when 5219 whales were estimated 

 to have been effectively marked and 203 marks had been recovered. Additional whale 

 marks recovered since then are not yet sufficient for a new analysis of these data, but 

 I have found the original records of the species and positions of whales marked to be of 

 assistance in studying distribution and the relative abundance of the species. Other 

 original material used in this paper includes records of whales observed at sea, mainly 

 during the voyages of the ' Discovery II ', and various observations which several of the 

 Whaling Inspectors have been kind enough to make for the Discovery Committee. 



I have to acknowledge my indebtedness to the colleagues mentioned above whose 

 work, spread over several years, has provided so much of the available data. I am grateful 

 also for the considerable body of notes made by the Inspectors. Acknowledgements are 

 made in the text where I have drawn upon their observations, but this material is not 

 yet exhausted. My thanks also are due to Mr Harold Paulsen, secretary of the Associa- 

 tion of Whaling Companies, who took much trouble in compiling for me certain par- 

 ticulars of the southern whaling grounds, and finally to Dr Stanley Kemp, F.R.S., and 

 Dr F. C. Fraser, who have kindly read through the typescript of this paper and made a 

 number of most helpful suggestions. 



SPECIES OF WHALEBONE WHALES 

 This paper is concerned with the principal baleen or whalebone whales of economic 

 importance ; that is to say the Blue, Fin and Humpback whales. Sei whales are referred 

 to here and there, but they are of less importance and the data relating to this species are 

 very limited. Sperm whales, although of some minor importance to the whaling 

 industry, are not included. They have been adequately dealt with by Matthews (1938a), 

 and no new material, such as that from recovered whale marks, has come to hand. 

 Occasional mention is made of the Southern Right and Minke whales, and a complete 

 list of the species of whalebone whales, with the various common names by which they 

 are known, is given in the Appendix. 



EXTERNAL CHARACTERS AND SPECIFIC IDENTITY 

 An account here of the external characters of the different species would merely be a 

 repetition of descriptions which have already been published, but it is perhaps worth 

 while to draw attention to the literature on the subject and the bearing of specific 

 identity on questions concerning the stock of whales. 



The external characters of southern Blue and Fin whales are fully described by 



