Summary: THE Royal Research Ship Discovery II left London on October 3 on her fourth Antarctic commission. The voyage is expected to last for some twenty months, and, as on former occasions, the work is primarily concerned with observations on the distribution and environment of the whales which form the basis of the southern whaling industry. According to the programme which has been arranged, the ship, after calling at Cape Town, will circumnavigate the Antarctic continent, returning to South Africa in June 1936. The distribution of whales near the ice edge will be examined in each sector of the Antarctic, and series of stations with full observations on the hydrology and plankton will be taken on lines extending from the pack ice to the warmer waters north of the Antarctic convergence. This circumnavigation is being made in the summer months, and will be complementary to that undertaken in the winter of 1932. The work is controlled by the Discovery Committee acting under the instructions of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. The present voyage is under the leadership of Mr. G. E. R. Deacon, with Lieut. L. C. Hill, R.N.R., in executive command. The other members of the scientific staff are Mr. J. W. S. Marr and Dr. F. D. Ommanney, with Mr. A. Sanders as laboratory assistant and photographer.