THE WHALEBONE WHALES. 669 



The considerable number of Whales which were met with along 

 the coast of JSTewfoundland during the earlier years of hunting- 

 may probably have accumulated, slowly, during the course of time 

 by natural multiplication, i. e. the older ones have been followed 

 l)y their young and these also have come back to the same 

 locality. If the catches, then, had been proportional to the 

 approximate natural inci'ease, the industry might most probably 

 have been carried on to the same extent for a long time to come. 



It niny be taken for granted that the great bulk of the Whales 

 which during the spring months migrate northwaixls through the 

 Atlantic take an easterly direction and spread in a fan-like 

 manner towards Iceland, the Faeroe Islands, Shetland, Spitzbergen, 

 and the northern coasts of Norway. Now the question is : Does 

 the western part of the Atlantic bordering upon Nova Scotia, 

 Cape Breton, and Newfoundland ofter them any inducement in the 

 form of sufficient food which they may be supposed to find at this 

 time of the year growing along the border of the Gulf-Stream in 

 various localities ? This may, I think, be answered in the negative ; 

 and I believe that we have here also circumstances which may 

 have contributed to the condition of thiiigs which has manifested 

 itself ofl' Newfoundland. 



On the Murman Coast, also, there has been another instance 

 of a similar case. In the eighties, two whaling stations were 

 started here by the Russians, and under apparently favourable 

 auspices as to the number of Whales which were seen in this 

 locality. After a few seasons of successful hunting, however, the 

 Whales became scarcer and scarcer, so that at last their pursuit 

 had to be given up. This agrees also very well with our own 

 experience on the Finmark coast, where the whaling stations in 

 the eastei'u localities had to be moved westwards at a com- 

 paratively early date, as the Whales became scarcer in the colder 

 areas towards the Murman Coast. 



If the statistics of the Whale fisheries in some of ou]' northern 

 localities are examined, it will strike an observer that the years of 

 good or poor returns generally run into periods of years of either 

 the one or the other kind. There may one year be foggy or 

 boisterous weather accounting for smaller catches, but these 

 obstructions do not genei-ally last in periods of years. It will take 

 a closer study of the hydrobiological conditions of larger areas 

 during the particular years to give a satisfactory explanation of 

 this phenomenon, and I am only here indicating its existence. 



With the latter part of August, or the first part of September, 

 most of the Whales in our northern latitudes have left their 

 summer haunts. The migrator}^ routes of the Blue Whales a,nd 

 the Rudolphi's Whales between the seasons, and to some extent 

 also during these, may well be said to be shrouded in mystery. 

 The two American bomb-lances, which in the years 1888 and 

 1898 were found in Blue Whales on the coast of Finmark, do not 

 give us much clue as to the particular locality where they had 

 been fired into the animals. 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1911, No. XLVII. 47 



