174 MAMMALIA ORDER V12I.CETACEA, 



name of " sulphur-bottom," which reaches the enormous length of from 80 to 

 84 ft. The common rorqual (B. musculus), frequently stranded on the British 

 coasts, is also a huge animal, frequently measuring from 65 to 70 ft. ; but the 

 other two species are of inferior dimensions, the smallest being the lesser fin- 

 whale (B. rostrata), of which the length does not exceed from 30 to 35 ft, 

 While some of the species feed largely on cod, others subsist chiefly on cuttle- 

 fish. 



On account of the length and elasticity of the whalebone, and the abundance 

 of oil yielded by their blubber, from a commercial point of view, the right- 

 whales are of far greater value than the humpback and finners ; while their 

 inferior speed, as compared with the latter, renders them far more easy to 

 overtake, and capture. The southern right-whale was, however, long ago 

 practically exterminated from the Atlantic by the old Basque whalers ; and 

 incessant persecution has so diminished the numbers of the Greenland-whale 

 that comparatively few are now to be met with on the old whaling-grounds. 

 Consequently, whalers have been compelled to turn their attention to the 

 less valuable finners and humpback ; and the use of steam vessels and 

 explosive harpoons fired from guns has rendered their capture far less 

 difficult than in the days of rowing-boats and harpoons and lances thrown by 

 hand. Till recently the "fishing" has been mainly carried on in the 

 northern and sub-tropical seas, but a few years ago four ships were fitted out 

 for whaling in the Antarctic ; and the following account of what was observed 

 13 condensed from a newspaper report. It is there stated that the right- 

 whales always come north to the grounds eastward of New Zealand early in 

 October, and remain till near the end of December. Then they collect in 

 "schools," and stirt on a south-east course with a speed of about five knots an 

 hour night and day. Several ships have followed them in this course until 

 they met with the ice-drift in lat. 50 deg. south and long. 160 deg. west, 

 where the chase was abandoned. The whales always arrive on the ground 

 in schools of ten or fifteen, and then separate and pair off or at most one 

 bull and two cows. It is not thought that the whales, with the exception of 

 the humpbacks, come north to calve, as they are never seen with any young. 

 Of late years right-whales have been seen north of 35 deg. 30 min. south lat. 

 Finners and humpbacks are always to be found on the "ground," apparently 

 travelling in a south-easterly direction. The humpbacks come up from the 

 southward along both the east and west sides of Australia and New Zealand 

 about the end of May, and continue their course northerly to about lat. 18 

 deg. south, when they disperse. About the first week of October they begin 

 to work their way back south until lost amidst the ice. Experienced whaling- 

 masters are of the opinion that there must be some place to the southward, as 

 yet unknown, where the whales assemble in large numbers. A vessel fitted 

 with an auxiliary screw, it is stated, could follow the whales to their destina- 

 tion without danger of being blocked by the ice. The right-whale, according 

 to men who are engaged in the trade at the present time, must be very 

 numerous in the Antarctic Ocean, as the fishery has never been carried on 

 there with any constancy and vigour ; whereas in the Arctic Ocean the 

 whales are looked upon as almost extinct. The southern-whale is not so 

 large as the Greenland, only yielding from 800 Ibs. to 1200 Ibs. of bone 

 the length of which varies from 8 ft. to 15 ft. valued at 1600 to 1800 a 

 ton, while the oil, averaging from 8 to 14 tons, brings 28 per ton. The 

 humpbacks are very numerous off Norfolk Island of late. These whales 

 measure from 60 to 70 ft. in length and yield from 50 to 70 barrels of oil. 



