74 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



the baleen of this species. Proceeding backwards, the dark 

 portions of the plates increased in extent, while forwards 

 they decreased, finally vanishing in the short front rows. 

 The long hair-like processes on the inner ends of the plates 

 were dirty yellowish white. The enormous tongue was dull 

 bluish black. 



Although this species is of more frequent occurrence on 

 the British coasts, at all events in the south, than any other 

 of the baleen whales, no example, so far as I am aware, has 

 been obtained in the Firth of Forth since 1808, when, on 

 23rd October, a male 43 feet long was stranded in the 

 upper part of the estuary, near Alloa, a description of which 

 is given by Dr. P. Neill in the " Memoirs " of the Wernerian 

 Society (vol. i. p. 201). To this form are also now referred 

 the whale, 46 feet long, stranded to the west of Burntisland 

 on i /th November 1690, and minutely described by Sir R. 

 Sibbald in his " Phalainologia " (p. 29), and that other of 

 the same size captured there on roth June 1761, and 

 described by Dr. P.Walker (Neill, op. cit. p. 212). Van 

 Beneden, in his " Histoire naturelle des Cetaces des mers 

 d'Europe," speaks of an example in the Firth of Forth in 

 April 1880, but, as mentioned in my "Mammalian Fauna 

 of the Edinburgh District " (p. 99), this is doubtless the 

 result of some error. In January 1848 a female 54 f ee t 

 in length was cast ashore about three miles east of St. 

 Andrews (R. Walker, "Scottish Naturalist," vol. i. p .107), 

 but the locality does not fall within the limits of the 

 " Forth " area. 



WHALING IN SHETLAND. 

 By R. C. HALDANE. 



FOR some forty years the Norwegians have gone after 

 whales in small steamers, from which the harpoons are fired 

 from a gun in the bows, an improvement upon the old plan 

 of following the whales in boats. 



After whaling off the Norwegian coast, the industry 

 was started in Iceland and in the Faroes. Lately the 



