I90 



DISCOVERY REPORTS 



Table XI 



If, in the middle of the season, some schools of whales were still moving south, while 

 others had commenced their return journey, we should expect the resultant values 

 during this period to be low, for the movements in opposite directions will partially or 

 wholly cancel one another. This is seen with some clearness in the Blue whale data for 

 1924-5 and 1925-6 (Fig. 6) and also in some other seasons, but with subsequent 

 directions which do not accord with our theory of movement. 



The data for the first half of the season are more consistent than those for the latter 

 half. They indicate that, in general, Blue whales were moving south-westerly, whereas in 

 Fin whales the direction is more westerly, with the southerly component less strongly 

 marked. Similar but more striking directional differences between the two species were 

 found in the early part of the season at South Georgia, and in neither locality is it 

 possible to suggest an explanation. 



In the present state of our knowledge little help is to be derived from these data. 

 While they give no clear support to the theory of movement based on the charts of 

 distribution, they do not point to the probability of any different theory. They tend 

 rather to imply that whale movements in the South Shetland area are haphazard and 

 irregular and that no ordered principle of migration is to be discovered ; and we think 

 this conclusion most improbable. 



