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APPENDIX V.

MEMORANDUM on the DISTRIBUTION of the WHALES in the WATERS about the ANTARCTIC CONTINENT. By JOHAN HJORT.

KNOWLEDGE OF THE SPECIES OF COMPARATIVELY

RECENT DATE.

Among the higher orders of animals, and especially among the mammals, no group has remained so little known until quite recent times as that of the whales. Up to the last, there has been doubt as to the com- paratively few species, and even more as to the geo- graphical distribution of these. It has not been an easy matter for scientists in general to obtain, apecimens of these suimals for purposes of investigation, neither from the whalers nor by capturing them personally; few scien- tists have, with the exception of the Prince of Monaco, actually taken their specimens themselves. The scien

thus for a long time tific material available was restricted to occasional stranded specimens, and the Nevertheless, a considerable reports of the whalers. amount of information has, in course of time, been col- lected by such means; among other works on the the contribution of subject may be mentioned Eschricht, P. J. Van Beneden, G. O. Sars, and by a generation ago the most important species had, roughly at least, already been described. In spite of this, how- ever, auch knowledge as had been obtained, being stored in museums or in the form of literature, was of but little use for the purpose of scientific expeditions, where the study of the subject had to be pursued by direct observation of the whales in their natural element. The task of the observer is here a matter of consider- able difficulty, the object appearing perhaps only for a moment, and even then frequently showing only head, or back, or tail. Even zoologists acquainted with the species from specimens preserved in the museums, or from the best illustrations existing, may therefore at times find themselves unable to determine to what seen in the water particular species an animal belongs.

The whalers were for a long time similarly situated. The first object of the whaling industry was, it will be remembered, the Right whale (genus Balaens) which is distinguished from all other species of whalebone whales by the lack of dorsal fins. These whales, of which three species are found in the Atlantic-viz.: the Greenland whale Balaena mysticetus, L.), the Northeaper (Bulnena glacialis, Bonnet. or, as it is more often called, B. biscayensis), and the southern Right whale (B. australia, Desmoulin)—are remarkable for the aize of their whalebone. For this reason they have been termed by the whalers "true" or "right" whale. bone whales and in the early days of the whaling industry, when whales were sought almost exclusively for the sake of the whalebone, and the method of capture forbade any attempt to attack the far stronger and more dangerous Fin whales (Rorquals), it only necessary to distinguish between Right whales and Rorquals. These latter were of little value to the whalers, many of whom, therefore, never learned to dia- tinguish between the different species of Ronquals, but used the name Fin whale as a comprehensive term, em- bracing the genera Balaenoptera and Megaptera (Balaenoptera musculus, L., or Blue whale; Balaenoptera physalus, L., in Norway known as the true Fin whale. or Herring whale; Balaenoptera borealis, Less., in Norway called "Seihvalen"; Balaenoptera acutorostrata, Lacep., in Norway called "Vangehvalen"; and Megaptera longimana, Rudolphi-nodowi, boops or Humpback, Hunchback, Knurrwal, Knólhval).

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When the whaling industry subsequently came to include the capture of sperm whale or cachalots, these

Following Mr. Frederick W. True (on the nomenclature of the whalebone whales in the tenth edition of Linnæus" Systema Naturae, Proo. U.S. Nat. Mus. XXI, 1808), I feel obliged to use the name Halaenoptera musculus L. instead of B. Sibbaldi for the blue whale and the name Balaenoptera phylus L. instead of B. musculus for the fin whale. The latest authors, e.g., E. Racovitza and R. Collett have also followed Mr. True in this respect.

were for a long time the principal object, Right whales, however, being taken occasionally as opportunity occurred. Also this branch of the industry, the Sperm whaling, left the Fin whales as a rule severely alone, and the Fin-whale industry did not commence until the well-known invention by Svend Foyn, of explosive harpoons, with guns fired from the ship, and land fac

Svend Foyn tories or whaling stations on shore. commenced his operations in Finmarken, in northernmost part of Norway, in the sixties of the last century. The Fin whales were, with very few exceptions, the only whales found in these waters, and the catch con. sisted, for by far the greater part, of the following four species: Balaenoptera musculus, physalus, borealis. and Megaptera boops.

the

THE FIN-WHALE INDUSTRY LARGELY RESPONSIBLE FOR INCREASED KNOWLEDGE OF WHALES. From the moment when these whales became the object of a special industry, a large amount of informa tion was haturally collected in various ways as to the species concerned. This was the more easy as the whales taken by the new method were hauled up on land and dealt with there instead of from the ships. Both whalers and scientists had thus an excellent opportunity of making observations and noting points of import ance which might serve to elucidate biological questions in regard to the whale as, for instance, the shape of the body, contents of stomach, size of the fœtus at various times, etc. A number of new and important scientific works also appeared dealing with the system and biology of the Fin whales, all based upon the material brought to land by the whalers (G. O. Sars, R. Collett, G, Guldberg, Kükenthal, etc.). The Fin whales have thus been effectively systematised, at any rate as regards the region of the North Atlantic. Later investigations, and in particular the excellent work of Racovitza, have shown that the Fin whales in northern and southern waters may be regarded as being in all essentials the same forms. Since the commencement of the Fin-whaling industry in the Atlantic in 1905, the logs of the whalers have furnished a great amount of material as to the occurrence of the different species.

In the course of the industry it was soon found necessary to be able to distinguish between the different species, not only when the specimens were hauled up on land, but also in the water. The gunners in particular soon became practised in this respect, and were able before long to recognise the different species at consider- alone. I have able distances by their spouting already previously called attention to the knowledge which these men possess, and to which I have myself

In my

"Fiskeri og book, endeavoured to attain. Hvalfangst i det nordlige Norge." I refer to the sub- ject as follows:-

"The Humpbacked whale spouts a very short, broad (thick) jet of vapour. The spoutings of the Fin whale and Blue whale are most alike. that of the latter, how- ever, being more even, and resembling a thin, high jet of steam, while the Fin whale's spouting is quite thin at first, widening upwards to a fountain-like cloud. The Seihval and Vaagehval are recognisable by their size alone, being smaller than the three species already mentioned."

It was thus not until the commencement of the Norwegian Fin-whaling industry that accurate knowledge was obtained as to the appearance of these species when in the water; it is, therefore, not to be wondered at that the mass of earlier literature, extensive as it is, yet furnishes but general and far from precise information as to the occurrence of the different species in the ses. Numerous expeditions, both of scientific and practical

* Johan Hjort: Fiskert og Hvalfangst i det nordlige Norge. Aarsberetn. velk. Norges Fiskerier, Bergen, 1902.

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