490 ANNUAL EEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 2 8 



pp. 114-117), but no records for finbacks are included. Neverthe- 

 less, Bull (1896, p. 112) reports seeing many finners in the vicinity of 

 the Royal Company Islands on October 20, 1894, and again at 164° 08' 

 east longitude and 64° 18' south latitude on February 9, 1895 (p. 202). 

 Then, too, Wilson on March 4, 1904, observed finbacks off the Balleny 

 Archipelago, 156° 20' east longitude and 67° 30' south latitude. 

 (Liouville, 1913, p. 36.) Lillie (1915, p. 116) reports that finbacks 

 are very scarce in the Ross Sea and that " it is evidently not fond 

 of ice-covered seas." He states that a finback was taken in October, 

 1912, off the Kermadec Islands. 



In the North Pacific finbacks follow the coast on their northward 

 run from Lower California to the Bering Sea. They appear off 

 Kyuquot, Vancouver, as early as March. They have been taken in 

 Frederick Sound off the southern end of Admiralty Island in August, 

 and large numbers were observed off the south coast of Kadiak by 

 True on September 3, 1895. Individuals are commonly taken off 

 the California and Oregon coasts in May, June, July, and August. 

 On the western side of the Pacific finbacks are taken off Aikawa, 

 Japan, in May and June (Andrews, 1916, p. 320), but they are most 

 abundant during the winter months. 



SEX WHALE (BALAENOPTERA BOREALIS) 



Sei whales have a roving disposition and occur sporadically in 

 large numbers from time to time at widely separated localities. 

 Great numbers were observed east of North Cape, Finmark, in 1885 

 and again in 1898. In the year 1885 they first appeared about the 

 middle of May, but the bulk of them came early in July. At this 

 time they were observed from the Tromso coast to Varangerfjord, 

 and also alcJng the Murman coast. (Collett, 1886, p. 260.). The 

 last of them were seen on September 8. A similar invasion (Hal- 

 dane, 1907, p. 12) occurred in 1906 off the coast of Scotland and 

 Shetland. Unusual numbers appeared in the vicinity of South 

 Georgia in February, 1914 (Hinton, 1925, p. 173). Millais (1906, 

 p. 277) was informed by Captain Nilsen that sei whales made their 

 appearance in August and September on the south coast of New- 

 foundland and that large numbers were observed in Placentia Bay 

 in August, 1903. Sei whales have been taken along the eastern 

 coast of North America from Florida to Labrador, East Iceland, 

 Europe, Africa, the Falklands, South Shetland Islands, Chili, Java, 

 the Island of Solor in the Timor Archipelago, Japan, and on the 

 west coast of North America. 



In the North Atlantic, sei whales pass South Innishkea Islands, 

 West Ireland, from the last half of May to the middle of June, and 

 are also found along the coasts of Scotland and Shetland between 

 the middle of June and the middle of July. In traveling northward 



