North- Atlantic Fin-Whale Fishery. 407 



longer"; he adds that the whales which eat the capelan or 

 "lodde" are only in Finniarken waters in the spring, and 

 "those that eat the ' kriF [Calanus Jinmarchicus), i.e. the 

 southern form, come later." This variety is also known as 

 the " langror" (literally long-reed, as rorqual (rorkval) is the 

 Finmarken dialect for rorhval or reed-whale : Cocks), and 

 Capt. Horn, of Yeretiki, informed Mr. Cocks that of sixteen 

 rorquals captured by him off the Murmanski coast in 1889 

 all were of this variety, and not one normal fiii-whale. The 

 variation in colour taken by itself would not amount to much, 

 but ill conjunction with several other minor differences in 

 form, food, and the season of their appearance would seem 

 to suggest subspecific value. 



It is the opinion of experienced Norwegian whalers that 

 this species pairs in December or January, and that, as a 

 rule, the foetuses found in Aju-il are from 6 to 12 inches long, 

 whereas in August they are from 6 to 10 feet in length and 

 at birth Ki to 20 feet; but tiiat there are many exceptions to 

 this generalization the following examples of actual dates 

 and measurements of foetuses will show : — 



March.— i ft. 



April. — I ft. 4i in.-5 ft. 



Mat/.— 2nd, female in milk ; 7th, 4 ft.; 19th, 4 ft. 2 in,; 



20tli, 4 ft. 2 in. ; 21st, 5 ft. 2 in.; 2;3rd, 19/o in. 

 June.— 2nc\, 4 ft. 5 in.-3 ft. 8 in.; 10th, 8 ft.; 18th, 



2 ft. 1 in. ; 20th, 3 ft. ; 25th, 4 ft. 6 in. 

 July.— I ft. 10| in. ; 5th, 4 ft. 2 in. and 6 ft. ; 7tli, 6 ft. 6 in. 



and 8 ft. 1 in.; 8th, 6 ft.; 9th, 6 ft. 6 in. ; 12th, 



1 ft. 5 in.; 16th, 8 ft. 5 in.; 20th, 3 ft. 1 in.; 



24th, 7 ft. ; 28th, 4 ft. 8 in. 

 August.— it\\, 5 ft, 7 in. ; 8th, 10 ft, 5 in. 



A whale of this species which came on shore at North 

 Woolwich in November 1899 was delivered after death of 

 twins ; and Mr. Haldane tells me that two foetuses were 

 taken out of a cow at Faroe last year (1904), also that 

 Capt, Castberg, of llonas Voe, met with a similar case 

 two years ago. These are the only instances of twins which 

 have come to my knowledge. 



The deductions to be drawn from the above appear to be 

 that this species in the North-east Atlantic produces a single 

 young one (on very rare occasions two) at rather irregular 

 dates in the autumn months, and that the period of gestation 

 is probably ten months. The destruction of so many gravid 

 females is a matter of great regret, but seems inevitable 



