3 i2 THE ANIMALS OF THE ANTARCTIC 



whaling is that a considerable percentage of both the tinners and humpbacks 

 killed at the whaling-stations consists of gravid females. 



The Antarctic is, however, by no means the only region in the Southei-n Hemi- 

 sphere where tinners are hunted, for there is an important tropical whale-fishery 

 at Bahia, in Brazil, which gives employment to a large number of fishermen from 

 June to the middle of September. The whales, which are almost exclusively the 

 common fin-whale, usually begin to arrive off the Brazilian coast from the south 

 about the middle of May, and from that time to the end of September the waters 

 along the coast from Assu on the north to Cannavieras on the south, a distance of 

 some 300 miles, swarm with whales, this strip of seacoast being apparently 

 their breeding ground. The Bahia whalers employ old-fashioned and inefficient 

 methods in the capture of the whales, using open sailing boats of about thirty feet 

 in length, with a crew of eight or ten hands, and ordinary harpoon and lances. 

 The carcases of the whales have to be towed to Itaparica Island, in Bahia Bay, where 

 the " trying-out " works for boiling down the blubber are situated, and head-winds or 

 rough weather often cause the loss of the catch. The yield of oil is usually about 700 

 gallons, but large whales produce 1200 gallons or more. At the end of September 

 the whales take their departure in a body, all heading north, and being no more 

 seen until the following season, though the route of their migration is a mystery. 



While, as we have just seen, the rorquals and tinners which visit the sub- 

 Antarctic coasts appear to be inseparable from northern species, the southern seas 

 are the home of several kinds of beaked whales (Ziphiiclce) apparently unknown 

 elsewhere. All the beaked whales, as is more fully noticed later, are compara- 

 tively rare, and appear to go about in pairs instead of in the large " schools " 

 formed by most of the members of other groups of cetaceans. One of the charac- 

 teristic southern species is Layard's beaked whale (Mesoplodon layarcli), which is 

 not infrequently stranded on the South African coasts, and attains a length of 

 nearly twenty feet. It is specially characterised by the great length and strap-like 

 form of the single pair of teeth in the lower jaw (the only teeth this whale 

 possesses), which grow continuously throughout life, and curve upwards so as to 

 embrace the upper half of the long beak. In a specimen stranded some years 

 ago near Port Elizabeth, which measured 19 feet 2 inches in total length, the 

 colour of the back was dark brown, inclining to black on the dorsal surface, 

 gradually merging to brown on the sides and tail, and becoming whitey-brown or 

 dirty white on the belly. It has been suggested that this beaked whale, owing to 

 the overarching of the strap-like teeth, must experience considerable difficulty in 

 opening its mouth, but careful examination of this example proved that it was 

 able to open its mouth from 4i to 5 inches at the tip; the fleshy covering of 

 the upper jaw beneath the teeth showing no mark or abrasion, indicating that 

 the animal opened its beak only so far as the teeth allowed. Judging from the 

 width of the gullet, the naturalist who examined the specimen came to the con- 

 clusion that this whale does not require to open its mouth very wide, as the gullet 

 is only from If to 2 inches in diameter, indicating that the food consists of 

 small morsels. The sharp, enamelled real tooth at the summit of the tusk is 

 considered to be used for tearing and rending soft-bodied animals such as cuttle- 

 fishes, and possibly for tearing aside seaweeds when in search of food. The 



