CETACEA—LILLIE. 91 
It was more or less possible to group the colours of the thirty specimens into 
seven divisions, as indicated in the first column of Table IV. 
Taste IV.—Megaptera nodosa, Bonnaterre. 
Colour. 
No. 1 
Between No. 1 and No. 2 
No. 2 ; 
Between No. 2 and No, 5 
No. 3°! 
Between No. 3 and No. 4 
No. 4 
| 
Number of Number of | 
Males. Females. Total. 
: = l 
| el 7 
3 1 | 4 
3 il 4 
2 4 6 
2 1 6 
9 K 
The numbers in this table refer to 
the four types shown in text-fig. 2, 
Nos. 1—4, and three intermediate types 
have been added. 
It will be noticed that the two 
extreme types were the rarest, and that 
the females tended to be darker than 
the males. 
The variable coloration of Hump- 
back whales has been known for some 
time*, and a few observers have tried 
to attach thereto a specific significance. 
This. however, appeared to be quite 
unwarrantable in the case of the New 
Zealand specimens, since the differences 
in colour were not accompanied by any 
other distinguishable characters. 
It has been suggested by Rawitz 
* Racovitza, E., 1903, ‘Résultats du 
voyage du S.Y. ‘ Belgica,’ Cétacés,” p: 20. 
Rawitz, B., Sitzb. Ges. Nat. Fr. Berlin, 1897, 
pp. 146-150. True, F. W., ‘“ Whalebone 
Whales of Western North Atlantic,” Smith- 
sonian Contributions to Knowledge, 1904, Vol. 
XXXIIL., p. 216, Pls. 37-41. Haldane, R.C., 
Annals of Scottish Nat. Hist., April 1905, p. 
a, TAG MB 
um 
— inant 
AEN, RETR ie 
ER. | 
Sk 
4 
4 
Fia. 2.—Diagram to show the variation in the amount 
of pigmentation in the New Zealand Humpback 
whale: 1—4, colour varieties (see text). 
