114 “TERRA NOVA” EXPEDITION. 
This whale was mistaken for Neobalaena marginata by Dr. Wilson when on board 
the “Discovery” in 1901-4. On the “Terra Nova” Expedition, although we knew 
that Balaenoptera acutorostrata had been identified in New Zealand and Antarctic 
waters,* and we were quite prepared to find it in the Ross Sea, yet there was only one 
occasion on which these whales showed themselves sufficiently well to put their 
determination beyond dispute. This was on March 3, 1911, in Lat. 67° 22) Ss lone: 
160° 31’ E., when the ship was ploughing her way through thick pack-ice, in which the 
water was freezing between the floes, so that the only open spaces for miles around 
were those made by the slow movement of the ship. We saw several of these whales 
during the day, making use of the holes in the ice near the ship for the purpose of 
“blowing.” There was scarcely room between the floes for the whales to come up to 
“low” in their usual manner, which consists in rising almost horizontally, and breaking 
the surface of the water with their backs. On this oceasion they pushed their snouts 
obliquely out of the water, nearly as far as the eye, and after “ blowing,” withdrew 
“several times one 
them below the water again. Commander Pennell noted that 
rested its head on a floe not 20 feet from the ship, with its nostrils just on the water- 
line; raising itself a few inches, it would blow and then subside again for a few 
minutes to its original position with its snout resting on the floe. They took no notice 
of pieces of coal which were thrown at them by the men on board the ship.” (See 
Pl. VL, figs. 1-6.) 
They swam close to the surface, in the pool of open water under the stern of the’ 
ship, and frequently rolled over in play, so that their external characters could be 
easily determined. 
They were between 20 feet and 30 feet in length. The dorsal fin was shaped as in 
Pl. V., fig. 2. The throat-grooves numbered about sixty, as far as we could 
ascertain. 
In colour they were greyish black above, and most of them were white 
throughout on the underside. A few were grey ventrally, with white patches in the 
middle of the ventral surface. There was considerable variation in the amount of 
pigment on the lower surface of the body. A characteristic triangular patch of 
lighter colour oceurred on either side of the back, in the region of the dorsal fin. 
(ScecP ie Vii coe) 
In the majority of cases, the pectoral “ flippers” had a broad white band on their 
dorsal surfaces, but in some, the “ flippers” were almost entirely white above and 
below. The posterior dorsal margins of the tail-flukes were white im some cases. 
* Hutton, F. W., and Gray, J. E., Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1874 (4), Vol. XIII. J. von Haast, 
Trans. New Zealand Inst., 1880, Vol. XIJI., p. 169. Bull, H. J., “The Cruise of the ‘ Antarctic,’” 
1896, p. 141. Benham, W. B., Trans. New Zealand Inst., 1901, Vol. XXXIV., p. 151. Racovitza, E., 
« Résultats du voyage du 8.Y. ‘ Belgica,’ 1897-99, Zoologie, Cétacés,” 1903, p. 56. Liouville, J., op. cit., 
p- lll. Stead, D. G., “A Brief Review of the Fisheries of New South Wales,” Sydney, 1910. Trivett, 
J. B., Official Year Book of New South Wales Fisheries, 1912. Published 1914. 
