North- Atlantic Fi?u Whale Fuhenj. 409 



wliales. In 1903 a sperm-whale 68 feet long was killed by 

 a Shetland wiialer out of a school of five, four of which 

 escaped, and five or six otiiers were killed by the Iceland 

 vessels. A considerable school of these valuable animals, 

 estimated by some at thirty individuals, visited the seas to 

 the eastward of Iceland, and apparently wintered there, for 

 five others w^ere killed by the Bunaveneader vessels in the 

 past season of 1904. But by far the most interesting capture 

 was a whale killed on 3rd July, 1903, in 61'^ N. lat. and 

 4° W. long-.j with whalebone 7 feet long, evidently an 

 Atlantic right whale [Balcena biscaj/ensis). 



Of the first year's operations at Ronas Voe there are no 

 statistics further than that 126 whales were killed ; these 

 ]Mr. Haldane states, with the exception of the sperm-whale 

 already mentioned, '' one with barnacles " (probably a hump- 

 back), and a bottlenose, were all the common finner 

 [B. musculus). 



In 1904, 400 finners were killed from Shetland and 37 

 from Bunaveneader. Of the Shetland finners 236, or 59 per 

 cent,, were males and 164, or 41 per cent., females, showing 

 a very large majority o£ males. Of the total catch of 506 of 

 various species from these islands, 86 (36 per cent.) were 

 finners. Mr. Haldane gives the average length of 135 males 

 as 62 ft. 9 in., and of 91 females QQ ft., an excess of 3 ft. 3 in, 

 over the males. The five longest males were 78, 77, 77, 75, 

 and 75 feet respectively, and the five longest females 78 (an 

 exceptionally large animal), 76, 75, 75, and 73 feet; but the 

 'Norrona' has since killed a male, confidently asserted to be 

 of this species, 82 feet long. 



The average length of the adult female is believed to be 

 65 or &(j feet, but a foetus 2 feet long was taken from an 

 example only 50 feet long. In a foetus 16 feet long the 

 baleen had not begun to show, but in one 22 feet long it was 

 well developed and the colour of the young one the same as 

 its mother ; at birth the baleen should be quite 2 inches long. 

 The growth of the calf is very rapid, and suckers 40 feet 

 long have been seen ; the general opinion among the Nor- 

 wegian whalers is that a calf of this size is not more than a 

 year old and that the suckers remain with the mother twelve 

 months. In support of the early sexual maturity of the 

 female ]\Ir. Haldane mentions the example just referred to, 

 which, although only 50 feet long, contained a foetus. The 

 whalers, who have had great experience, believe the period 

 of gestation in this species to be eleven months ; and a table * 

 of measurements of eighteen foetuses given by Mr. Haldane, 

 * Annals of Scot. Nat. Iliit., April 1905, p. 70. 



