56 



occurred to me tliat the Lxrge uiimber of whales captured near this coast, 

 and neighbouring coasts, might have had much to do with this fact. The 

 question which arises is, whether the whales which are caught close to 

 the coast are not chiefly females, winch have sought shallow water in 

 order to give birth to their young. On this subject I can obtain no 

 information, and in the hope that other members of the Institute may 

 be better acquainted with the natural history of the tribe, I have thought 

 it desirable to bring the question before this meeting. 



In reply to my application, Dr. Drysdale writes as follows : — " Thei'e 

 must be some misunderstanding, either on the part of Mr. Burns or 

 yourself, as the fact is, that from unavoidable circumstances I was 

 prevented from seeing the whale. The deductions I drew were thus 

 merely at second hand, and founded on what had been told me by 

 friends (Mr. J. R. Monson and others), accompanied by the fact that 

 when the whale was in tow of the Maoris, it voided a large mass of 

 gelatinous looking matter (apparently from the vagina), which I con- 

 jectured might probably be the placenta. My own opinion quite coincides 

 with yours and that of my friend Mr. Burns, as to the propriety of 

 discouraging coastal whale fisheries ; but from the hearsay nature of the 

 above, as well as from my comparative ignorance of the subject, you will 

 agree with me that it would be presumption on my part to address the 

 Institute on the subject." 



The Chairman remarked that the whale being a mammal, the fact of 

 killing the mothers whilst the calves were very young, must naturally 

 cause the latter to die from lack of nourishment. It had been ascer- 

 tained as a fact that the cow whales did frequent the bays and shallows 

 to bring forth their young. 



It was resolved to obtain information from old whalers and others as 

 to the calving time of whales, and to communicate with other societies 

 as to the best method of discoui-aging coastal whaling, which tended to 

 exterminate these animals. 



4. The Chairman proposed that a sub-committee should be appointed, 

 to be empowered to make collections of the industrial productions of 

 Otago, to send to the Colonial Society's Museum in London, and of 

 works on the province, to be added to its library. 



Mr. Murison asked whether the Colonial Society had, or intended to 

 have, any rooms set apart for such a purpose. 



The Chairman said that a museiim and library were piovided for in 

 its constitution. He did not know whether they had established 

 them yet. 



