156 



DISCOVERY REPORTS 



unexpectedly rich for these coastal regions, and large numbers of whales were seen in the 

 vicinity. At the end of the month she travelled westwards from Adelaide Island to about 

 ioo° W, and taking stations on the return journey (WS 502-8), found a very rich plank- 

 ton. During this cruise numerous whales were seen south of Peter 1st Island. From 

 February 10-12 nine more stations were taken in the eastern Bellingshausen Sea off 

 Adelaide Island (WS 509-17) and the plankton here was now found to be much poorer 

 and no large numbers of whales were seen. During the next season (1 930-1) the 

 ' Discovery II ' made a similar cruise, taking stations first in the eastern Bellingshausen 

 Sea (i.e. off the Biscoe Islands and Adelaide Island) at the end of December (Sts. 556- 

 60). Here the plankton was very thin and whales were sighted only occasionally. The 

 ship then proceeded westwards to about the same point as that reached by the ' William 

 Scoresby', and returned to Adelaide Island. During this part of the cruise (Sts. 561- 

 82) a fairly rich plankton was found and, as with the ' William Scoresby ' in the previous 

 year, large numbers of whales were seen during part of the cruise, this time some dis- 

 tance to the north-east of Peter 1st Island. About the middle of January more stations 

 were taken off Adelaide Island and the Biscoe Islands (Sts. 583-603) and again the 

 plankton was scarce and very few whales were seen. The results are summarized in the 

 following table in which the figures represent the average numbers of organisms per 

 haul with the N 100 B. The numbers of stations upon which the averages are based are 

 shown in brackets. 



Table XVIII. Whales and quantity of plankton in the Bellingshausen Sea 



The important point here is that the coastal region near Adelaide Island was visited 

 four times. On three occasions the plankton was very scarce and whales were not 

 plentiful. On the fourth occasion the plankton was about ten times as rich, and large 

 numbers of whales were seen. This may be a coincidence, but it is suggestive, in view 

 of the similar evidence from South Georgia, of a connection between the whales and 

 the quantity of plankton. It is very improbable that the whales have any particular 



