102 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



of the younger animal and the huge, long, and broad flippers 

 of the old male is perfectly astonishing,' the length of the 

 flippers in the adult male being only about one-fifth that of 

 the entire animal. Liitken believes that in the old females 

 the flippers decrease relatively in size, and that really large 

 flippers and other fins are only known in old males. The 

 failure to realise the existence of these remarkable changes 

 has led to the description of individuals of this species under 

 more than one specific name. 



" It need hardly be pointed out that the facts observed 

 in the Solway Firth specimen are entirely in agreement with 

 Liitken's description. It may be added that the enormous 

 growth of the flippers in this specimen has been produced 

 by a very striking increase in size of the cartilaginous parts 

 of the phalanges and carpal elements, the ossified parts 

 having grown relatively little during the hypertrophy of 

 the fin. 



" It is probable that the female Killer never reaches 

 much more than half the length of the largest males, a dis- 

 proportion between the sexes which is paralleled in the 

 Sperm Whale." 



A Lesser Rorqual {Balceiioptera acutorostratd), cast ashore 

 at North Berwick, on 26th August, was determined from 

 blades of the baleen, and another procured at Caithness on 

 1 8th October, "had lost its head, tail, and flippers, the part 

 stranded being 20 ft. long. It appears to have been a large 

 though not fully adult specimen of this species, as indicated 

 by the characters of a lumbar vertebra, from which the 

 epiphyses had been lost." 



Bottle-nosed Whales (Hyperoodon rostratus) were recorded 

 from Carnoustie (Forfar) and Grimsay (Outer Hebrides). 

 The former was described as a male, and was determined 

 by an old Dundee whaler, who examined it in the flesh and 

 said that he " could not mistake it with its peculiar head " ; 

 the complete head of the latter was secured. A Common 

 Porpoise (Phoc<zna phoccend) secured at Montrose on 10th 

 March completes the list of Scottish Cetacea for the year. 



The Report deals further with twenty-three specimens 

 stranded on the shores of England, Ireland, and Wales. 



