; ON BELMULLET WHALING STATION, 145 
Belmullet Whaling Station.—Report of the Committee, con- 
sisting of Dr. A. E. Suiptey (Chairman), Professor J. 
SranLEY GARDINER (Secretary), Professor W. A. HERDMAN, 
Rev. W. Sporswoop GREEN, Mr. E. 8. GoopricH, Dr. H. W. 
Marert Tims, and Mr. R. M. Barrineton, appointed to 
investigate the Biological Problems incidental to the Belmullet 
Whaling Station. 
Tus Committee annex a full report from Mr. Burfield on his work 
at Belmullet in 1911. The Committee had hoped that Mr. Burfield 
would return to Belmullet in May 1912 for the season. The working 
up of the results of his work there in 1911 had not proceeded sufficiently 
far to make such a course likely to be profitable, and difficulties arose 
as to finding accommodation for any other investigator. Under the 
circumstances it seemed wiser to defer further investigations until 
1913. The Secretary has received 30]. from a member of the Com- 
mittee. This sum should meet part of the expenses of sending an 
investigator to Belmullet in 1913. 
The Committee ask for reappointment with a grant of 151. 
Report to the Committee. By S. T. Burrieuy, B.A. 
I. Lyrropucrion. 
In the summer of 1911, at the suggestion of Professor J. Stanley 
Gardiner, I proceeded to the Belmullet Whaling Station, on the west 
coast of Ireland. This station is the property of the Blacksod Whaling 
Company, and is situated close to Ardelly Point, in Blacksod Bay, 
Co. Mayo. My object was.to obtain any information incidental to 
whales and whaling which might be of interest, and also to collect and 
preserve any parts or parasites of these interesting mammals which 
might be of use for more detailed anatomical work. 
I arrived on June 13. This station was opened in 1910, and as it 
is, I believe, one of the most modern and best equipped stations exist- 
ing at present, [ have thought it worth while to give some account of 
the general factory procedure in connection with the extraction of oil, 
and the manufacture of guano and cattle food. 
There are two whaling-steamers connected with the station. The 
erews on the boats and the skilled workmen at the factory are Scandi- 
navians, but local Irish labour is employed for unskilled work. 
Through the season an average of about thirty Irishmen are employed 
in this way. 
There are no doubt both advantages and disadvantages in attempting 
scientific work on whales at an actual whaling station. The obvious 
advantage is that during the course of a short stay one is enabled to 
see a comparatively large number of the largest whales in a fairly 
fresh condition. From the whaler’s point of view a whale under 
40 feet in length is not worth chasing, and of course it is rather on the 
largest whales that scientific work must be concentrated at the present 
1912. L 
