HUMPBACK WHALE ; CALIFORNIAN GREY WHALE 249 



number, and there is still controversy as to whether the scarcity 

 is a direct result of overfishing, or whether the animals are 

 frightened away from the areas where they are pursued. South 

 Georgia furnishes a typical example of what has so often 

 happened. In 1910-n Humpbacks formed 96'8% of the 

 total catch, Finners and Blue Whales making up the insig- 

 nificant balance. By 1916-17 the proportion of Humpbacks 

 had dropped to 9"3% of the total, while Blue and Finner 

 Whales constituted the remaining 907%. The diminution 

 may have been more apparent than real, and may have been 

 caused by the whalers preferring, in the later years, to hunt 

 the larger, more valuable species of whales, but it has 

 been pointed out in the Report of the Interdepartmental 

 Committee on Research and Development in the Dependencies 

 of the Falkland Islands, " if selective hunting were the sole 

 reason for the diminished capture of the small Humpback, it 

 might be anticipated that in the years in which the larger 

 whales were present in small numbers the percentage of 

 Humpbacks would sensibly rise " It has been established, 

 nevertheless, that the percentage catch of Humpbacks has not 

 increased in the lean years. 



In the statistics of whaling in 1934-35 and summer 1935, 

 it is shown that more than 4000 Humpbacks were killed 

 throughout the world. The pelagic factories in the Antarctic 

 accounted for 1928 Humpbacks, or only 6-3% of the total 

 catch of whales in that region. On the Congo coast 1241 

 Humpbacks formed the entire catch made in that area, with 

 the exception of 10 Sei Whales. Moderate numbers of this 

 species were taken off the coasts of Natal, Alaska and Kamchat- 

 ka, and a few off the Japanese coast, Chile and South Georgia.* 



Family Rhachianectid.e. Genus Rhachianectes. 



THE CALIFORNIAN GREY WHALE (Rhachianectes 

 glaucus). Fig. 66. 



The name Rhachianectes glaucus means literally "the grey 

 rocky-shore swimmer", and with the common name it tells us 

 something about the appearance, disposition and habits of 



* By international agreement the killing of Humpbacks is at present 

 prohibited in the Antarctic. In other parts of the world the numbers killed 

 in recent years have been small. 



