ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 237 



to naturalists in this area, it is so frequently seen by yachtsmen 

 as to receive little attention from them. I recorded one in the 

 "Annals," which I saw on exhibition in Greenock in July 1896. 

 One was stranded at a later date on the Argyll side of the Firth, 

 and I have reason to believe that it was correctly assigned to the 

 species above named. On the 8th of June, when steaming up Loch 

 Fyne in Mr. Andrew Bain's ss. " Romany," one was several times 

 seen by our party ; and on the following day, in the evening, I 

 watched one, about 20 feet long, for fully half an hour, in Kilchattan 

 Bay, Bute. JOHN PATERSON, Glasgow. 



Bottle-nose Whale (Hyperoodon rostratns (Mull.)) at Ayr. 

 Reports of " Bottle-noses " in the Firth of Clyde are far from infre- 

 quent ; thus this summer I have heard of them from Loch Fyne, 

 Kilchattan Bay, Fairlie Roads, and Corrie (Arran). Definite records, 

 however, are scarce, so it may be worth stating that on the morning 

 of the ?th September, Mr. Henry Cowan of Ayr found on the North 

 Beach there, and apparently very recently dead, an almost uninjured 

 example of Hyperoodon rostratus, which he disposed of to a show- 

 man at Ayr, in whose booth I saw it, and took the following 

 measurements : 



Ft. Ins. 



Length, along dorsal ridge, from tip of beak to notch of tail . 16 2 



,, ., ,, to dorsal fin 93 



Anterior curve of dorsal fin . . . . i 3 



Spread of tail from tip to tip in straight line across. . 3 10 



Anterior curve of left lobe of tail ... 24 



left flipper . I 6 



Tip of beak to angle of mouth . I 4 



Upper curve of blow-hole . o 5 



Girth was said to be 6 feet, weight 3 tons, and sex $ . Forehead 

 sloped upwards from base of beak at a moderate angle only ; 

 colour was a uniform solid black, extending, as far as I could see 

 or was informed, to the underparts also. HUGH BOYD WATT, 

 Glasgow. 



The White-sided Dolphin off the East Coast of Seotland.- 



A damaged skull of Lagenorhynchus acutus was dredged and brought 

 to Aberdeen by trawlers ; and as the hyoid bones and cartilages 

 and the ear bones were still in position, I conclude that the speci- 

 men was not an old one. This species is seldom found on the 

 Scottish coasts, so I thought it worth recording in the "Annals." 

 The skull measured : 



Inches. 



Length, including lower jaw . .16 



Breadth, behind orbits . . . . 9 



Height 7i 



Length of lower jaw . . . . 13 



This species of Dolphin is easily distinguished from the White- 

 beaked Dolphin, Lagenorhynchus albirostris, by its narrower and 



