370 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



the season advances. If the small whales that appear about January have come from 

 northern waters, as their leanness, size, and frequently parasitized condition very 

 strongly suggest, the upward trend of their average blubber thickness shown in Figs. 

 1 06 and 107 favours the theory that fattening actually takes place on the local feeding 

 ground. 



OCT. NOV. 



< 



-I 1 1 1 1 1 1 r 



DEC. JAN. FEB. MAR. APR. MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. OCT 

 SOUTH GEORGIA »■ ■« SOUTH AFRICA >■ 



Fig. 107. Female Fin whales. Monthly average thickness of blubber. 



- Whales more than 20-0 m. long (excluding pregnant and lactating whales). 

 - Whales less than i8-o m. long. 



OCT 



NOV. 



T 1 r 



DEC. JAN. FEB. MAR 

 SOUTH GEORGIA 



APR, 

 »- 



MAY 



T r 



JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. OCT 

 < SOUTH AFRICA »- 



Fig. 108. Female Blue whales. Monthly average thickness of blubber. 



— Whales more than 23-0 m. long (excluding pregnant and lactating whales). 

 - Whales less than 19-0 m. long. 



Turning now to the South African whales we see that the adult Fin whales make a 

 late appearance in the catch at Saldanha Bay. Both Fin and Blue whales are very fat at 

 the beginning of the season, as fat indeed as the end-of-season whales at South Georgia. 

 This points to a migration to the African coast from rich feeding grounds, though 

 not necessarily from the Dependencies of the Falkland Islands. Certainly they have 



