ANTARCTIC ZOOGEOGRAPHY 379 



northern hemisphere, the center of the industry, which is mainly 

 under Norwegian control, shifted to sub-Antarctic waters. The out- 

 put of Norwegian whale oil from seas south of the equator increased 

 from 4200 barrels in 1906 to 306,000 barrels in 191 1. By the end of 

 1915 a total of more than 100,000 whale carcasses had passed through 

 the reduction plants of stations between the Falkland Islands, South 

 Georgia, and the South Shetlands. This figure takes no account of 

 the toll of whaling in South Africa, the Indian Ocean, New Zealand, 

 and Ross Sea. 



Data on the distribution of the southern whales are scattered and 

 still relatively slight. In addition to investigations on seasonal 

 migration, breeding, embryology, and other phases of the life history 

 detailed in the reports of the various national Antarctic expeditions, 

 preliminary information of great value is contained in two publica- 

 tions of the British Colonial Office.^' 



An increase of knowledge regarding the southern whales is of 

 inestimable scientific and economic importance. Fortunately steps 

 toward this end are now being made, for in October, 1925, the Colo- 

 nial Ofhce sent out an expedition in Commander Scott's old Antarctic 

 vessel, the Discovery, equipped for an investigation of whales and 

 whaling in the far south, which returned to England in September, 

 1927. Among the apparatus used were bronze markers, already 

 proved practicable, which are discharged from a gun and planted 

 firmly in the blubbery surface of living whales. 



Investigations at sea are to be supplemented by continuous work 

 of a laboratory at South Georgia. From the consummation of such 

 boldly conceived plans we should eventually derive information more 

 precise and comprehensive than anything learned in the past. 



^' Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on Research and Development in the Dependencies 

 of the Falkland Islands, with Appendixes, Maps, etc. 164 pp. Cmd. 657, H. M. Stationery Office, 

 London, 1920. 



M. A. C. Hinton: Reports on Papers Left by the Late Major G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton Relating 

 to the Whales of South Georgia, pp. 55-209. Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, 1925. 



