LECTURE BEFORE PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 10 June 1911, Page 4

LECTURE BEFORE PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE.

The Philosophical Institute of Canterbury met in the Old Chemical Laboratory at Canterbury College recently. The programme for the evening was an illustrated lecture by Mr D. G. Lillie, 8.A., biologist to the Antarctic Expedition, 1010, on "The Natural History of Whales." Mr fjillie, after giving tail account of the various stages of development of whales, .said they had skins like those of fishes, waterproof, and capable of being peeled off in transparent Sheets. Under a. leatherlike layer, they had a mass of fat or blubber. One would imagine that with all this fat whales would not suffer from the cold, but a paper has been written on "Rheumatism in, Whales," and when down south ho had heard a dolphin whale coughing. Whales had got to store up every bit of air they could, and hence they had tremendous lung capacity, because they only oame to the surface occasionally to breathe. Whalebone Mr Lillie said, was simply a growth of the epidermis in the mouth, and the beginning of a smaller growth were seen on the roofs of the mouths of human beings. Cows' horns were made of the same substance, which was hair matted together. Whalebone whales got their food by taking immense amounts of water into their months, w'hich water was sifted through the whalebone, the 'minute animals being left behind and swallowed for food. Whales did not masticate their food, the teeth being simply used to hold the food while it was being gulped down. To show'that the teeth were not used for masticating Mr Lillie mentioned the fact that he had seen one with barnacles on its teeth. The other kinds of whales were known as toothed whales, and these ate fish. The whalebone whales had hairs on the top of their head for feeling the tiny shrimps, etc.. used as food since they could not see this food on account of its smallness, and could not smell it on account of having no smell. A prominent type of toothed whale was the sperm whale, which ate nothing but cattle fish. These were valued for the spermaceti or great mass of fat in the head. Mr Lillie said he thought this fat was really intended for the animal to live on when food was scarce, as sperm whales have been seen with heads in a flabby emaciated condition. If ,so, it would' live on a similar principle to the camel, which stored up fat in two humps on its back, and water in chambers in its stomach. He said whale flesh tasted like beef and was well worth eatin. Referring to the title of his lecture, Mr Lillie said not much was known about the habits of whales, and the only way to collect authentic data would be to have a. whale aequarium. Whalles could be caught alive in a net in the Japanese fashion, and dragged into a specially constructed aequarium, where there mode of life could be o'bseirved'. He also stated' that at the present rate of killing on the coast of Scotland whales would be wiped Out altogether shortly. The sluggish type of whales ("'right" whales), had been the first to be caught, and' it was only later on that the whalers could catch the faster ones such as the sperm whales. There are few of these latter left now. He urged that legislation should he introduced to preserve them and prevent indiscriminate killing. Mr Lillie was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his interesting lecture.

Among those present were Lieut. Pennell and the officers of the Terra Nova, and Captain Bollons, of the Government steamer Hinemoa. who took the Institute's expedition to the sub-Antarctic islands.