SOUTHERN 

 BLUE AND FIN WHALES 



By N. A. Mackintosh, A.R.C.S., M.Sc, and J. F. G. Wheeler, M.Sc. 

 (Plates XXV— XLIV, text-figs. 1-157) 



INTRODUCTION 



OBJECTS OF THE WHALING INVESTIGATIONS 



THE section of the Discovery investigations which consisted in direct observations 

 on the whales brought into the whaling stations, required less elaborate preparations 

 than were needed for the equipment of the ships, and it was therefore possible to start 

 this branch of the work at a somewhat earlier date. The Marine Biological Station in 

 South Georgia was opened in January 1925, and from the following February the 

 observations were continued at South Georgia, and for a time at South Africa, until 

 April 1927, during which period a total of 1683 whales were examined. 



The present report is not to be regarded as final, for the investigations were reopened 

 at South Georgia early in 1928, but in the meantime sufficient material has been gathered 

 for a detailed examination of the results. There is still, of course, much to be done and 

 the future prospects of the work are discussed towards the end of the report. 



The procedure which has been followed in the work at whaling stations is based on 

 the recommendations made in the Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on Research 

 and Development in the Dependencies of the Falkland Islands (Cmd. 657, 1920). In this 

 report the relation of the work on shore to the other investigations is explained, 

 and a brief account is given of what was then known or conjectured of the distribution, 

 migrations, breeding and other habits of the whales in question. 



In discussing the problems which have to be studied it is necessary to remember 

 that the main object of the work is to find out as much about the effect which 

 whaling is having or is likely to have on the stock of whales as it is possible to 

 discover by observations on the carcasses of whales which are brought into the whaling 

 stations. The lines of investigation which may be expected to supply information 

 bearing on this question may be roughly classified under the following headings: 

 (i) a thorough examination of the specific characters (i.e. external features, bodily 

 proportions, etc.^) of the various species, and the extent to which individual variation 

 may occur; (2) an investigation of the reproductive processes and breeding habits, 

 and the reproductive potentiality of the whole stock of whales ; (3) the interrelations 

 of breeding, migrations, feeding, etc. 



^ Osteological specimens are, of course, to be included in the examination of specific characters, 

 but although some whale skeletons have been collected they are not ready for examination and cannot 

 be reported on for some time. 



