20 



30. Mesoplodon bidens (Sowerby). 



Sowerby's Whale. 



This interesting Whale was first described by Sowerby, from a 

 male, 16 feet in length, which was cast ashore in 1800 at Brodie, 

 Morayshire {Brit. Miscell., pi. i.). ; its imperfect skull is now in the 

 Oxford Museum. There is also a skull in the Edinburgh Museum 

 of Science and Art, which Prof. Turner thinks was probably that 

 of a second Scottish example (TV. R. S. Edin,, xxvi., p. 773). Three 

 specimens are known to have occurred on the coasts of Ireland, and 

 a few on those of the Continent (cf. BeWs Br. Quad., 2nd ed., pp. 

 431-434). 



Family: DELFHINIDAE. 



31. Monodon MONOCEiios, Linnaeus. 



Narwhal. 



Only two occurrences of the Narwhal on our shores are on record. 

 One was taken in the Firth of Forth, in June 1648, as mentioned 

 by Tulpius (Obs. Med., p. 376), and a second entangled itself among 

 rocks in the Sound of Weesdale, Shetland, in September 1808. 

 This example was carefully described by Fleming (Mem. Wern. S., 

 i., pp. 131-148). The Narwhal has only once been taken on the 

 coast of England. 



*S J 



32. Delphinapterus leucas (Pallas). 



White Whale, or Beluga. 



Another rare straggler from the Arctic seas. Two young males 

 wereoast ashore from the Pentland Firth, near Thurso, in 1793, 

 and were examined by Col. Imrie (quoted by Barclay and Neill). 

 An adult male, 13 feet in length, was killed in the Firth of Forth 

 in June 1815, and described by Barclay and Neill (Mem. Wern. S., 

 in., pp. 371-395, pt. xvii.-xviii.); its stuffed skin is still preserved 

 in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art. In Orkney, Baikie 

 and lleddle record that a dead White Whale was stranded on 

 Auskerry, in October 1845 (Hist. Nat. Ore, p. 22). My friend 

 Mr. J. G. Gordon tells me that he saw a large white Cetacean, 

 presumably an individual of this species, in Loch Etive in June 

 1878; and Prof. Flower has recently recorded the capture of a 

 Beluga on the east coast of Sutherlandshire, near Dunrobin, in 

 June 1879 (P. Z. S., 1879, p. 667). No English examples have 

 hitherto been met with. 



