250 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1946 
year. The food of the northern whales has been referred to in many 
publications, but. not very many original observations are recorded, 
and those which give all the required information are scarce. Lillie 
(1910), Burfield (1912), and Hamilton (1914) examined the stomach 
contents of blue and fin whales taken in summer off the west of Ireland, 
and found they were feeding on the euphausiid Meganyctiphanes 
norvegica, “sometimes in immense quantities” (Hamilton), and one 
or two fin whales, but not blue whales, were feeding on herrings. Per- 
haps the fullest investigation was that made by Hjort and Ruud 
(1929) who found that whalebone whales taken off west Norway fed 
on (i) herrings, (11) If. norvegica, the “large krill,” (111) Thysanoessa 
inermis, the “small krill,” and (iv) copepods, mainly Calanus finmar- 
chicus. They came to the conclusion that in winter (January to 
March) the fin whales live on herrings and 7hysanoessa inermis and 
in summer exclusively on Meganyctiphanes norvegica. G. M. Allen 
(1916) found large quantities of Thysanoessa inermis in the stomachs 
of blue and fin whales taken off Newfoundland, but the time of year is 
not stated. Other authors have summarized information from various 
sources, and it seems that Meganyctiphanes norvegica forms at least 
a substantial part of the diet of blue and fin whales in summer, that 
at certain times they feed heavily also on Thysanoessa inermis, and 
that the winter diet of fin whales includes fish (herrings, capelin, etc.). 
Blue whales do not appear to eat fish, and it is not certain whether 
the majority of fin whales find an amount of food in winter which is 
comparable to that available in summer. 
The humpback, according to Hjort and Ruud, feeds like the fin on 
“krill” in summer and fish in winter. G. M. Allen (1916) believes 
that it feeds chiefly on Thysanoessa inermis and probably Meganycti- 
phanes norvegica and small fish. Hjort and Ruud show that the food 
of sei whales off the west coast of Norway consists of Calanus fin- 
marchicus. It is interesting that this whale with its finer baleen 
should eat a smaller planktonic organism, though in the Antarctic it 
takes the same large euphausiids as other rorquals, and Andrews 
found that off Japan it ate “H’uphausia” and sometimes sardines. In 
the North Pacific Zenkovic (1937) found blue whales feeding on 
Nematoscelis, and fin and humpback feeding partly on fish but also 
a variety of small Crustacea, some of which were bottom-water forms. 
Here it would be interesting to know the depth of water in which the 
whales were hunted. 
There is little reliable information on the food of right whales. 
G. M. Allen (1916) states that the North Atlantic right feeds on 
Thysanoessa inermis and Calanus finmarchicus, and the Greenland 
right is said to feed on Calanus and pteropods, but these statements 
certainly need checking. The stomachs of gray whales caught dur- 
ing their migrations are empty (Andrews, 1914), but in the Arctic in 
