THE SOUTHERN BLACK RIGHT WHALE 



ocean around the South African coast, and it was 

 no unusual sight for the citizens of the coastal 

 towns to sec these and other species of whales 

 disporting in the bays. 



These great mammals of the ocean have been 

 so mercilessly hunted for their blubber and baleen 

 that they are now rare visitors to our coasts. 

 They came into the bays usually in June and July 

 in pairs, and if not killed or driven off, the female, 

 soon after arrival, gave birth to her calf. 



Even whales are tormented by parasites. A large 

 barnacle (Tubicella tr ache alls) attaches itself to 

 whales and deeply embeds itself in the skin, often 

 setting up great irritation. To rid itself of these 

 unpleasant and annoying parasites, the Whale often 

 comes into comparatively shallow water in order 

 to rub its irritated skin against the rocks. In the 

 endeavour to scrape off these barnacles, the huge 

 creature occasionally gets stranded, and perishes 

 before the return of the tide. The weight of a 

 Whale is so great that when stranded on the sand or 

 rocks its chest is crushed in. 



The Southern Right Whale is so similar to the 

 Nordkaper {Balana glacialis) which inhabits some 

 of the oceans north of the Equator, that naturalists 

 have questioned the wisdom of making a separate 

 species of it, some maintaining that the differences 

 only justify it being ranked as a local race or sub- 

 species. 



The fossil remains of several species of Right 



VOL. IV 209 14 



