BY W. LODEWYK CROWTHER, D S.O., M.B. 131 



Retiiniing to V.D.L. in 1841, he joined the Tasmanian 

 Society, and was one of the thirty-six resident members 

 when it became the Royal Society in 1843. In England 

 he had begun his lifelong friendship with Sir William 

 Flower, the great comparative anatomist, who filled snic- 

 cessively the positions of Conservator and Hunterian Pro- 

 fessor of the Museum of the Royal Collage of Surgeons, 

 Director of the Natural History Museum, and President 

 of the Zoological Society. Sir William about 1860 com- 

 menced his studies on the "Cefacea," and enlisted the aid 

 of my grandfather, who during the late 50's and 60's had 

 a whaling fleet cruising with varying success through tho 

 different whaling grcxirids of Oceania-. The latter first 

 sent tM'o sikeletons of Orca, which Sir William classfiied 

 as Orca meridionalis. (P.Z.S. 1864). Other specimens 

 were sent at intervals for several years to the Museum 

 of the Royal College of Surgeons. They embraced 34 

 catalogue folios and 8 o'enera of whales, and included 15 

 full skeletons. Among others the large adult skeleton 

 of thei male Sperm whale which do'minates the Museum of 

 the College of Surgeons was forwarded in 1869. In this^ 

 year my grandfather wasi awarded the Fellowship of the 

 Royal Colleige of Surgeons and their Gold hono'ur Medal. 

 I believe the firsit occasion on which it had be-en conferred 

 on an Australian. In 1878 he was Premier of the Colony, 

 and died on the 12th of April, 1885. The fortune® of 

 his whaling ships I shall touch on later in my paper. 



INTRODUCTION. 



I shall not attempt any scientific classifications of the 

 whales met with and taken in Southern waters. The 

 names employed are those used by the Whaling Captains 

 for the various whales they met with while at sea. 



They all, however, fall into one of two families : — 



(1) Mystacoceti, i.e.. Whale Bone Whales. 



(2) Odontoceti, i.e.. Tooth Whales. 



Odontoceti. 



'^SjJerm Whale" (Physeter macrocephalini). This will 

 be dealt with fully under deep sea whaling. Ranging 

 through the Southern Ocean and up to 80 feet in length 

 the adult gave on an average 9 tuns of Oil. One taken 

 b}^ the "Marengo" gave 15i tuns, valued at £1,500, and 

 another taken by the "Elizabeth Jane" off the S.W. Cape, 

 13 tuns. The oil a clear amber colour, one-third of which 

 camo from the head. 



