100 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Greenland ; it may also be added that this region is limited 

 to the southward and eastward by the ice-edge, and that the 

 South Greenland whales are generally killed to the westward 

 of the meridian of Jan Mayen, and to the northward of the 

 70th parallel. The fishing is extremely uncertain ; in some 

 seasons the ice is so far to the eastward as to prevent the ships 

 getting within several hundreds of miles of the ground, in others it 

 is so far west that the swell is able to reach the ice lying on the 

 ground, and convert it into an impenetrable pack, and thus, 

 although the ships are able to reach the locality, unless the winds 

 prevail from the S.W. and keep the ice open, they are almost as 

 helpless as before. If, however, the ice is not too far to the 

 eastward, and is navigable as far west as the ground, whales are 

 occasionally found here in comparatively great numbers, and 

 good cargoes are sometimes obtained. The appearance of 

 whales so far south at this time of the year, apparently in direct 

 contradiction to their migx-ation northwards earlier in the season, 

 as already stated, is somewhat difficult of explanation. It may, 

 however, be interesting to know : — (1) That the greater propor- 

 tion (about 90 per cent.) of the whales killed here are full-grown 

 males ; (2) that they have been followed south-westwards from 

 the North Greenland grounds, from which they are frequently 

 seen departing about the month of June ; (3) that this class of 

 old whales sometimes never migrate northwards, and consequently 

 remain on the South Greenland grounds during the whole season 

 (May to September) ; (4) that in some years the South Greenland 

 grounds are completely deserted early in the season, or at any 

 rate no whales are seen there dm-ing the summer. The ice 

 undoubtedly plays a most important part in influencing these 

 migrations, but the exact manner in which this is effected has yet 

 to be explained. 



[With the concluding portion of this article we hope to give, 

 in our next number, a good figure of Balana mysticetus, from a 

 careful drawing by Capt. David Gray. — Ed.] 



(To be continued.) 



