2I4 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



doubt that a type of whale mark used at first by the Discovery Committee was for this 

 reason a failure. Although some hundreds of whales were marked with it, none of this 

 pattern of mark has been recovered, and it is to be supposed that they were all ejected 

 as easily as specimens of Pennella. Subsequently a mark was used consisting of a 

 steel tube which normally becomes completely embedded. This was successful, and 

 such marks have been retained for periods up to six years, but it is quite possible 

 that some of them are also ejected. 



Pennella and Coronula provide some evidence of the migrations of whales. ' Ecto- 

 parasites in general are rarely found on Blue and Fin whales at South Georgia. Infection 

 seems to take place more easily in warmer waters of the South African coast, when 

 Pennella is particularly common. At South Georgia such external parasites as do occur 

 are generally fully grown, while those observed at South Africa included, at any rate in 

 the case of Coronula and Pennella, young ones in all stages besides the fully grown indi- 

 viduals. It appears that whales become infected with these external parasites during 

 their stay in warmer waters, but lose them on migrating to the colder waters of the 



south The ability of a whale to throw off the Pennellae which most commonly attack 



Blue and Fin whales, seems to have some physiological significance, for it is often found 

 that a whale taken at South Georgia with a number of these parasites in its blubber is 

 suffering from some internal growth or disease ' (Mackintosh and Wheeler, 1929, p. 373). 

 The occurrence of Pennella or its stumps or scars in a whale in the Antarctic is thus 

 evidence that that whale has migrated from warmer latitudes, but we have records only 

 from the Antarctic in summer and warmer waters in winter, and for the evidence of 

 migration to be conclusive we should need to prove that the parasites are not contracted 

 in winter in the Antarctic. 



Balaenophilus is a Harpacticid Copepod which inhabits the baleen plates of rorquals. 

 Among the Discovery Committee's records it is noted on Blue and Sei whales. 



The Cyamids, or whale lice, seem always to be plentiful on southern Right whales and 

 Humpbacks, but are rarely found on the rorquals. Barnard (1932) identifies Cyamus 

 ovalis, Paracyamus erraticus and P. gracilis from Right whales. Paracyamus boopis is 

 commonly found on Humpbacks, but P. erraticus has also been found on this whale. 

 Cyamus balaenopterae has been found on Blue and Fin whales. 



Haematophagus is another inhabitant of the baleen plates, and very common on Blue, 

 Fin, Humpback and Sei whales. Woodcock and Lodge (1921) describe H. megapterae 

 (found on Humpbacks) as a ciliate of the family Stentoridae. 



The list of Diatoms given above is taken from Hart (1935). He mentions also (p. 254) 

 a few other species which he considers occurred fortuitously on the skin of whales and 

 did not form part of the true diatom film. 



The familiar oval scars which are always plentiful on southern Blue, Fin, Humpback 

 and Sei whales are different from the scars occasionally left by Pennella, though they are 

 sometimes secondarily infected by that parasite. They are incurred in the warmer lati- 

 tudes where they are seen as clean-cut open pits in the blubber, and although every 

 stage in the process of their formation and healing has been traced it seems that no 



