THE STOCK OF WHALES 459 



drawn to the fact that during these months there was a high percentage of immature 

 whales, especially among Blue whales where the adults were in a minority. In the case 

 of Blue whales very few of the adults were pregnant but a comparatively large pro- 

 portion were lactating. Rather more Fin whales were pregnant but relatively few 

 lactating. 



In the 1925-6 season far more Fin than Blue whales were taken, and fluctuations in 

 the catches were very marked. Mention has already been made of the peculiarities of 

 this season. Whales were very scarce in October, November and December. A few 

 individuals, mostly large ones, were taken at the beginning of the season but they be- 

 came more and more scarce and the Blue whales almost disappeared altogether. The 

 weather during this period was on the whole fine and food appeared to be plentiful. 

 Among the whales caught a rather high proportion were pregnant and several Blue 

 and one or two Fin whales were lactating. 



At the end of December a change occurred in the catches which is strikingly shown 

 in Plate XLIV. Immense numbers of Fin whales appeared in the vicinity of the island. 

 They were found at first about seventy miles from the coast and consisted of a great 

 majority of males of a fairly uniform size. It is worth noting that a transport ship which 

 had recently arrived at South Georgia, had previously reported seeing great numbers 

 of whales some hundreds of miles to the north of the island. There was at first little 

 or no food in the stomachs of the whales caught, but later they were to be found 

 nearer to land and seemed to be finding food. The change in the type of krill 

 has already been commented on. During January about twice as many males as females 

 were caught, but the proportion of females rose in February and March. At the same 

 time the average length of the whales of both sexes declined. This was evidently due 

 to an influx of immature whales, for the latter rose from about 10 per cent in January 

 to about 50 per cent in March. Pregnant females declined from 61 per cent in January 

 to 17 per cent in March, while the ratio of resting females showed a corresponding 

 increase. Some lactating females were caught among these Fin whales, but the ratio 

 fell very slightly during January, February and March. Few Blue whales were caught 

 during this period, but there was a slight influx of small ones which became quite marked 

 at the beginning of March. Pregnant and lactating Blue whales were on the whole 

 relatively fewer than at the beginning of the season. Taking the season as a whole the 

 majority of Fin whales were adult and the majority of Blue whales immature. 



This 1925-6 season may be described as a "Fin whale season". The third season at 

 South Georgia, 1926-7, was undoubtedly a "Blue whale season". As may be seen 

 from the chart Blue whales were in a great majority over Fin whales and were abundant 

 during the greater part of the season. Fin whales were extremely scarce at the beginning 

 of the season, but slightly more plentiful in January, at the end of February and 

 beginning of March. It is true that since the whalers prefer Blue whales to Fin whales 

 one may expect comparatively few of the latter to be caught when the former are 

 plentiful, but this is not enough to explain the exceptionally small numbers of Fin 

 whales taken in November and December. 



26-2 



