WHALEBONE WHALES—MACKINTOSH 237 
Hansen (1936) charted the captures of the modern pelagic fleet in 
the Southern Ocean. Risting (1928) studied the lengths of whales 
and their foetuses in relation to their distribution and breeding, and 
D’Arcy Thompson (1918, 1919, 1928), Harmer (1928, 1931), Kemp 
and Bennett (1932), Ottestad (1938), and others have also published 
papers based on statistics of the industry. 
Direct observations on whales on a large scale and partly by new 
methods have been carried out by the Discovery Committee since 1925. 
These include principally the detailed examination of some thousands 
of whales at whaling stations and on factory ships, mainly for the 
investigation of breeding, growth, and age; the marking of whales 
at sea whereby direct evidence of their migrations and distribution 
is obtained; and a long-term program of oceanographic research car- 
ried out partly for the study of the whales’ environment in the South- 
ern Ocean. General accounts of the results of work at whaling sta- 
tions were given by Mackintosh and Wheeler (1929) and Matthews 
(1937, 19388b), and some more specialized aspects are dealt with in 
various papers by Wheeler, Ommanney, and Laurie. A paper de- 
scribing the principal results of whale marking has been published 
by Rayner (1940), and a more general report concerned largely with 
distribution and the stocks of whales by myself (1942). 
Of the investigations which are not dependent on the whaling in- 
dustry, direct observations at sea have been used in some of the 
Discovery Reports, and other expeditions have resulted in papers on 
habits of whales, among which those of Racovitza (1903), Lillie 
(1915), and Bruce (1915) may be mentioned. Stranded whales and 
museum specimens are mainly of systematic and anatomical interest, 
but records of standings (e. g., Harmer, 1927; Fraser, 1934) throw 
some light on distribution. 
The principal modern methods of investigating the natural history 
of whales are (a) anatomical examination in whaling factories, (0) 
independent observations at sea, (¢c) the marking of whales, and 
(d) analysis of the statistics of the industry. Whale marking is 
perhaps the soundest method of investigating some of the problems 
which arise. The method is to fire a numbered dart which lodges in 
the blubber of the living whale, and a reward is offered for the return 
of the mark with appropriate particulars. Such marks have been 
recovered up to about 2,500 miles from the position of marking and up 
to 10 years from the time of marking. Some of the evidence obtained 
through the catches of whales (under (a) and (d) above) must be 
applied with caution to the populations in general, but it can often 
be checked by marking and independent observations. Whale mark- 
ing not only provides information on distribution and migrations. 
Recoveries of long-term marks can be used as a check on estimates of 
