4 EDWARD A. WILSON. 



have had. We saw a very large number of these whales, sometimes alone, sometimes 

 in pairs, and sometimes in much greater numbers. 



On March 2nd and 4th, 1904, when off Cape North and the Balleny Islands, we 

 saw so many together that we could generally count half-a-dozen spouts at once. 

 Many were then in a sportive mood and, in rolling over, showed some yellowish white 

 on the under parts. Some, too, were bellowing, and the noise of the blow was 

 constant, far and near. 



There is much variety in the shape of the dorsal " fin " and in the extent to which 

 the back is humped behind it ; in Fig. 1 are given a number of outlines which were 

 taken on the spot. The " fin " is always situated far back upon the posterior third of 

 the animal's length. Some, too, have excrescences on the dorsal fin which probably 

 consisted of barnacles, but this we did not observe in the icy seas, where all that we 

 saw were free from anything of the kind. 



We saw a pair of these whales in Table Bay on our voyage out ; again a pair off 

 the coast of New Zealand, but nowhere did we see them in numbers till we reached 

 the ice. In Ross Sea they were abundant. If, as Sir James Hector suggested, there are 

 really four species of Rorqual in the Southern Hemisphere, they are probably not easily 

 to be distinguished at a distance. I must refer all that we saw to the one species only, 

 though it is possible that they represented also the Southern form of Rorqual which 

 has been given specific distinction under the title B. australis, the " Sulphur-Bottom " 

 of Antarctic whalers. 



NEOBAL.ENA MARGINATA. 



The Australian Whale. 



Balcena marginata, Gray, Zool. Ereb. and Terr., (1846), p. 48. 



Neobalana marginata, id., Suppl. Cat. S. and W. (1871), p. 40 ; Flower, op. cit., p. 4 ; Hutton and 

 Drummond, Animals of New Zealand (1904), p. 44. 



This whale, unless our identification is at fault, is also a common form in the 

 Ross Sea, and is met with constantly wherever there is loose pack ice. It is a 

 black or dark grey whale of from 20 to 30 feet in length, with a very rounded back, 

 and a small hook-like dorsal fin which slopes well backwards. It appeared at the 

 surface almost as it spouted, and as the head went under, the round back rolled up, 

 showing its little dorsal fin, before it disappeared again. (See fig. 2.) As a rule this 

 whale was solitary ; occasionally two or three, but never more, were seen together. It 

 was always moving along in an orderly fashion, and never on any occasion disported 

 itself, nor did it ever show more than the back and fin, as I have mentioned. 



AN UNDESCRIBED WHALE. 

 (See Whales, Plate I.) 



Next must be mentioned a whale which Sir James Ross and McCormick 

 have both mentioned as one " of large size, having an extremely long erect back fin," a 



