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THIRD SERIES. 

Vou. XIII.) AUGUST, 1889. [No. 152. 


THE FINWHALE FISHERY OFF THE LAPLAND COAST 
IN 1888. 
By Atrrep Heneace Cocks, M.A., F.Z.S. 
Tue total take in 1888 again shows a considerable diminution 
from the preceding season. My friend Capt. G. Sérensen (Har- 
bourmaster of Vard6), for the first time, has apparently forgotten 
to send me a list of the whales killed,* so that my returns for the 
Finwhaling during 1888 are more imperfect than usual; as, 
besides gaps, my information concerning a few of the companies 
may not include the last whale or two killed at the extreme end 
of the season. If, however, we allow (to make even numbers) 
13 beyond the numbers recorded at the end of this paper, the 
total only amounts to about 730, or probably from 120 to 130 
less than the total obtained in 1887, which in its turn was 100 
less than the total in 1886. 
The number of Companies (in spite of a few changes) remains 
the same as in 1887; the number of whalers was greater by 
three, or—as I am not sure that two of the vessels were in 
commission before the latter part of the season—the increase is 
perhaps more correctly stated as one. 
The falling off in the numbers of each of the three species of 
Rorqual appears, as far as my returns go, to have been about 
* As it takes a month to receive a reply from Vardé, I did not write 
a reminder to Capt. Sérensen, because I could not tell but what the next 
post might bring me the desired information. 
ZOOLOGIST.—AUGUST, 1889. Z 
