EXTERNAL CHARACTERS OF FIN WHALES 321 



mandible and rostrum, and a table of the type used for the numbers of baleen plates 

 and ventral grooves may be drawn up to show the extent of variation. 



Here, as usual, no difference is found between males and females. There are only 

 half a dozen records from South African whales, but these fall well within the limits 

 of variation shown by South Georgian whales, and we may therefore suppose that 

 the whales of the two localities do not differ in this respect. 



In the foetus, hairs are numerous and well developed at an early stage. In the foetus 

 of No. 270, which measured 0-55 m., the hairs were represented by small white spots 

 in the positions where they would later have grown out, but in No. 1 151 which measured 

 0-445 ^^- th^ incipient hairs were already distinct. 



FIN WHALES 

 GENERAL REMARKS 



The characters of the Fin whale may be dealt with in the same manner and in 

 the same order as those of the Blue whale. Since each step is fully explained in the 

 section on the Blue whale much repetition may be avoided here, and though the Fin 

 whale is of at least as great commercial importance as the Blue, less space need 

 be devoted to it. 



The average yield of oil from a Fin whale is 35 to 50 barrels, as compared with 70 

 to 80 from a Blue whale^. The distribution and history of the hunting of the Fin whale 

 is very similar to that of the Blue whale. It was caught only in small numbers at 

 South Georgia and the other Dependencies up to about 1912, but during and since 

 the war it has been taken regularly in great quantities. 



The largest Fin whale we examined measured 24-53 ""^-' ^^ 8° ft. 5 in. This was a 

 female, No. 478. There were altogether four females measuring over 24-0 m. (Nos. 478, 

 200, 263 and 463). As No. 478 was the largest out of nearly 800 Fin whales one would 

 expect that the limit for this species is somewhere about 25-0 m. (or 82 ft.), so far at 

 least as the length is measured from the tip of the snout to the notch of the flukes. 

 The largest Fin whale measured by Barrett-Hamilton was 82 ft. long, measured from 

 the tip of the mandible, or 80 ft. 3 in. from the tip of the snout. Risting (1928) 

 mentions that the largest Fin whale among his records measured 27-3 m. or 89 ft. 6 in. 

 This is one from a great number of records, but it has already been pointed out that 

 we are unable to put entire confidence in the accuracy of Risting's data. 



As to the Fin whales of the North Atlantic, a female of 24-55 ^n- o*" ^^ ^t. 6 in. has 

 been recorded by Cocks (1887), but it is uncertain how this was measured. The largest 

 whale examined by True was 21-5 m. or 70 ft. 8 in. 



In order to examine the sex ratio of Fin whales we may, as in the case of Blue 

 whales, use the British Museum statistics of catches at the southern whaling stations 

 during previous years. These include the following: 



^ It appears that, owing to improved methods, a somewhat higher yield has been obtained in 

 recent seasons. 



