APPENDICES.
133
Barrett-Hamilton, and the following list gives the sex, number, date of capture, and the total length (in a straight line from the tip of the mandible to the notch of the caudal flukes) of each specimen :--
In the following table these lengths are compared with the lengths of the North Atlantic blue whales recorded by Cocks, True, Burfield, J. E. Hamilton, and others :--
192
APPENDICES.
MALES.
FEMALES.
Blue Whaler.
Boath Georgia.
Finmark (Cock)
Belmullet Ireland. (Burfield ad
S'tlanda and f1.bridea
Iceland (B. Hallas.)
New!oundland (Truc.)
i
Number.
Date of Capture.
Length in Feet. Number.
Date of Capture.
Length in Peet.
È. Hamilton,) (Haldane.)
26
1913, December 2
78
20
1918, December 1
91
Average length of all.
+
It. (50) 78.7
ft.
ft.
it.
It.
ft.
(104) 76-4
(9) 73-75 (223) 69-99
(6) 77
(188) 71-6
29
8
64
1
63
(nearly)
H
**
107
26
82
42
12
78
Males-
"
"
117
נו
נו
$3
27
84
43
12
84
*1
11
122
29
77
44
12
93
"I
"
"
132
29
81-5
55
18
86
13
>
135
30
"
77 (to tip
22
66
ม
"
of snout)
85
28
94
Smallest of the series regarded
Average length of all Minimum
Average length of the sexually
mature
(19) 80-22 (37) 78-2
(24) 789
(46) 75-27
(184) 69-91:
(58) 70-6
60
i
51
52
68
+
17
137
30
91
120
29
66
as sexually mature
74
72
"
11
154
31
74
143
80
95
Maximum
91
85-5
11
85 (88)
(5) 76-6 (19) 75 circa
73
I
88
72 81
157
31
78
157
1914, January
2
89
Females
ן
11
150
31
83
164
9
87
Average length of all
(26) 80-85
(52) 76-9 (8) 74
"
11
T
160
1914, January
2
64
192
5
66
Minimum
68
52
64.5
(89) 70-1
59
11
(84) 70
55
*
169
2
60
198
6
12
1 88.5
נו
175
3
85
199
6
85.5
Average length of the sexually
mature
1
(16) 88-87 (38) 79-8 (4) 79-67
(1) 79
(14) 74-76
+1
*
11
188
5
82
208
6
90
(nearly)
»
"
#
"
216
**
7
67.5
206
7
90
+
+
229
8
66
231
9
90
Smallest of the sexually
mature
+
13
*
33
246
80.5
285
9.
89
Maximum
82.5 95
72
88888
72-1 84
83
72 79
+1
11
15
258
12
78
255
12
78.5
? sex 82)
15
11
"
268
12
83
267
12
82.5
11
11
266
12
73.25
279
15
66-75
"
31
272
14
76.75
289
15
69-5
1
274 296
14
81.75
292
16
63
16
76:5
298
16
85-5
294
16
68.5
11
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
CO. 885
23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ZOOLOGICAL Characters.
Size. The lengths recorded in the preceding list may be summarized as follows:-
787 ft. Average length of all (50) specimens of both sexes ...
Average length of all (24)
Males.
Of these, 5 (Nos. 29, 160, 169, 216, and 229), or 209 per cent., were less than 70 ft. long, and are regarded as sexually immature; their lengths range from
rt
The remaining 19, or 791 per cent., were sexually
mature with an average length of
76.9
"1
60 to 67-5
*
80-22.,
Length of smallest male (No. 154) regarded as
sexually mature
74
13
91
Females.
Length of largest male (No. 137)
Average length of all (26)
Of these, 10 (Nos. 22, 42, 75, 120, 192, 255, 279, 289, 292, and 294), or 385 per cent., were sexually immature; their lengths range from
The remaining 16, or 61-5 per cent., were sexually
mature with an average length of
Length of smallest sexually mature (also pregnant)
female (No. 267)
Length of largest female (No. 143)
80:35,
68 to 79.5,,'
88.37,,
385
82.5
>>
95
"
It is necessary to keep in view the fact that the lengths given in the above table were not all taken in the same way by the various observers; in arriving at the figures for Belmullet 18 in. were added to the total length of each of the four females measured by Mr. J. E. Hamilton (see p. 101).
In a
In a
The blue whales of South Georgia attain considerably larger dimensions than do those of the North Atlantic. In a letter to Mr. Haldane concerning whaling in the Antarctic, Captain Castberg (Annals Scottish Natural History, 1909, p. 67), said:" The blue whales down there are bigger than I ever saw them, up to 120 ft. long and of enormous girth." This length is, perhaps, a mere estimate. letter written from Leith Harbour, dated 2nd December, 1913, to Mr. C. E. Fagan, Major Barrett-Hamilton said :---"There can be little doubt that the blue whales are larger than those caught in the North Atlantic. We are cutting up one now which had a greatest length of 91 ft. and a height from the ground, at the thickest part, of 10 ft. 9 in. It was really a marvellous monster, but they had one of 97 ft. before I came here. The second blue whale was a baby,' 63 ft. long!" further letter, dated 12th January, 1914, from Leith Harbour, to Dr. S. F. Harmer, Major Barrett-Hamilton said the blue whales "certainly run to a hundred feet long, which is bigger than any reliable record from the north that I know of.”
As will be seen from the table above, the sexually mature males and females measured at South Georgia averaged from 2 to 5 ft., and from 8 to 134 ft. longer, respectively, than in northern waters. The largest male was 91 ft. long; Haldane recorded one of 88 ft. from the Hebrides (season 1905), but this length may be somewhat exaggerated; the next largest from the north are one from the coast of Finmark (26th July, 1887), 855 ft., recorded by Cocks; two others of 85 ft. from the same coast recorded by Cocks; and two from Shetland of 85 ft., taken in the 1909 season, recorded by Haldane. The largest female examined at South Georgia was 95 ft. long; the largest female known from the North Atlantic is one of 88 ft.. recorded by Cocks in 1886, from the coast of Finmark.
The small size of the blue whales examined by True at Newfoundland suggests that during the whaling season the herds in that region consist principally of adolescent individuals with a few young adults (see below under "Migration.")
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