OCEANIC MAMMALS 505 



was Walvis Bay on the southwestern coast of Africa. With 

 the coming of the southern spring and summer, the right 

 whales moved southward toward polar waters "in a well- 

 defined band right across the oceans of the world between" 

 latitudes 30 and 40 S. "Later in the season, from January 

 to March, hunting was carried on farther south and was par- 

 ticularly intensive around the Crozets and Kerguelen" (Mat- 

 thews, 1938c). There was thus a wide tropical belt between 

 latitudes 30 S. and 30 N. in which practically no right whales 

 were taken. The fact that the southern stock was moving 

 southward at a time when the northern stocks were retreating 

 to north temperate latitudes tended to continue this separation, 

 and it is believed that for a long period there has been little if 

 any mingling of northern and southern populations. This sup- 

 position, if true, would give some ground for the belief that 

 racial differences between the stocks might have developed 

 through practical isolation at least within Recent times. 



With the recommencement of intensive whaling in the Ant- 

 arctic waters and with the use of modern methods, a few 

 southern right whales were taken in the earlier years of the 

 present century. The statistics given by Townsend (1930a) 

 for the nine seasons 1909-10 to 1917-18 show an annual catch 

 of from 6 to as many as 82 right whales, but after the latter 

 date no more in the next four seasons. At the South Shetlands 

 in these years smaller numbers were taken (less than 60 in 

 nine years). Only three were captured in the five seasons 

 1923-27 in the Natal waters. In all, Townsend records 410 

 right whales taken in the southern waters between 1909 and 

 1927, out of a total of over 122,000 for all large whales. There 

 is some evidence, however, that the abundance of rorquals led 

 to the capture of these latter as easier than making any special 

 effort to take right whales. Nevertheless, it is clear that the 

 former abundance of the latter has already been reduced to 

 well beyond the danger point and that from the first they have 

 formed a very inconsiderable percentage of the total whales 

 destroyed. Whether the species will ever recuperate sufficiently 

 to become commercially important again seems at present 

 doubtful. Under the new International Agreement for the 

 Regulation of Whaling, of 1937, the right whales of all species 

 are given complete protection, thus extending the protection 

 given them by the Norwegian Whaling Act of 1929. 



