492 DR W. S. BRUCE 



South Georgia of Major BARRETT HAMILTON, whose untimely death zoologists so deeply 

 deplore, I have thought it well to publish for what they are worth, without alteration 

 by an outsider and with my own interpretation, the brief notes I made over twenty 

 years ago, answering criticism only when it is misleading and not merely derisive. 



In his " Cetaces " in the Resultats du voyage du S. Y. " Belgica," published in 1903, 

 Mr E. G. RACOVITZA passes criticism on certain notes made by myself and others on 

 board the Dundee whalers in 1892-93. The criticism is so wild as to be worthless, 

 and for that reason has been ignored. 



I recorded Cetacea south of latitude 50 S. on board the Balsena* on 29 t days 

 out of 85 days, viz. from llth December 1892 to 23rd March 1893; and the 

 naturalists of the Scotia recorded Cetacea south of latitude 50 S. on 38 days out 

 of 82 days, viz. from 7th January 1903 to 23rd March 1903, 27th November 1903 

 to 3rd December 1903, as well as on 31 days out of 56 days, viz. from llth February 

 1904 to 7th April 1904. 



On some days when Cetacea might have been in the vicinity of the Balsena, 

 I was unable to record their presence on account of heavy ship's duties which were 

 not those of a naturalist,} but which by contract I had agreed to undertake and 

 accordingly fulfilled. 



The species of whales, as far as they are known, were : 



1. BAL^NA ATJSTRALIS : 



Balsena australis, Desmoulius. 

 (The Southern Right Whale.) 



2. BAL^NOPTERA MUSCULUS : 



Balsena musculus, Linn. 



Balsena tripinnis, R. Sibbald. 



Balsenoptera musculus, Van Beneden and Gervais. 



Balaenoptera physalus, True. 



(The Finner, the Common Rorqual, Fin Whale, or Razor Back.) 



3. BAL.ENOPTERA SIBBALDI : 



Balaenoptera sibbaldii, Flower. 



Balsena tripinnis, R. Sibbald. 



Balsena maximus borealis, Knox. 



Physalus sibbaldii, Gray. 



Balsenoptera musculus (Sulphur Bottom), True. 



(The Blue Whale, Sibbald's Rorqual, or the Sulphur Bottom.) 



* From Edinburgh to the Antarctic,})? W. Q. BURN MURDOCH, with chapter by W. S. BRDCK. Longmans, Green 

 & Co., 1894. t Not 7 days, as recorded by Mr RACOVITZA. 



I Mr RACOVITZA sailed as official naturalist on board a scientific ship. I signed articles on board a whaler. 

 Those early observations, however, taken under highly disadvantageous circumstances by my scientific colleagues 

 and myself, stimulated the despatch of the Belgica, on which Mr RACOVITZA sailed, and in turn all the many scientific 

 expeditions sent out from Europe during the past twenty years. 



The classification is according to that of Sir WILLIAM TURNER in his Catalogue entitled The Marine Mammals 

 in the Anatomical Museum of the University of Edinburgh, 1912. 



