34 E. LÖNNBERG, CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FAUNA OF SOUTH GEORGIA. 



ments of several specimens, as well as his observation of the colouration of numerous 

 specimens of this whale together with notes on the habits of the animal. 



At Captain Larsen's whaling station on South Georgia the Humpback was a 

 common occurrence and Sörling had the opportunity of seeing abont 75 such whales 

 brought to the factory. The largest of these measnred about 11 to 11, öo m., the 

 smallest 8, 15 in total length. 



The former of these measurements agrees perfectly with the size of a specimen 

 of this species which Racovitza (18) observed close to the ship. The author quoted 

 believes, however, that he at other opportunities saw Humpbacks of considerably 

 greater size, and he thinks that he has seen two specimens that might have been 

 even more than 16 — 17 m. long. It must be observed to this that it is very diffi- 

 cult to estimate the exact size of a whale in the water. The present writer must 

 therefore on the basis of Sörling' s measurements maintain that at least the Hump- 

 back of the South Atlantic as an average does not attain a larger size than about 

 11 — 11, 5 m. (36 — 38 feet) in length. Smith has recorded the length of a specimen 

 from Cape to 34 feet. In consequence of this, the Humpback of the southern At- 

 lantic appears to be smaller than the northern. The south pacific Humpback may 

 be different in this respect; conf. below the statements about the different colour 

 as well. True (20) has compiled statistics about the length of the northern atlantic 

 Humpback and arrived at the conclusion that the average for »mature males» is at 

 the American coast 46 feet 11 inches and at Finmarken 58 ' feet 11 inches, and for 

 mature females resp. 45 feet HV2 inches and 48 feet. If from True's tables the 

 average for all the specimens caught, of both sexes and all ages, is compared with 

 the measurements from the southern Atlantic it may be found that the northern 

 average measurements are nearly as large, or larger, than the maximum length of 

 southern specimens. The average length for all Newfoundland specimens is namely 

 37 feet and 4 inches, for specimens from Finmarken 38 feet 3V 2 inches and for other 

 European specimens 39 feet 5 inches. If all these measurements with certainty could 

 be said to have been taken in the same way, it should, of course, have been fully 

 proved that the northern Humpback is a larger animal, but as it is not excluded 

 that the measurements have been taken differently, it is best, for the present, only 

 to pronounce the probability of such a fact. 



Concerning the colour of the Humpback of the southern Atlantic Sörling has 

 communicated the following. The smallest (8, 1-, m.) specimen he saw was all över 

 dark slaty blue, almost black, except the inner sides of the pectoral fins which were 

 white. The young animals were, as a rule, entirely blackish grey except the inner side 

 of the pectoral fins and the under side of the flukes. The adult were marmorated 

 on the under side of the lower jaw, throat and anterior part of the breast and on 

 these parts the white is the ground colour on which irregular black spöts are distri- 

 buted, but in some instances the black is dominating. The inner side of the pectoral 

 fin is white, most purely at its hind-margin but shading more and more to grey 



1 This is, howevev, probably a misprint for 48! 



