GRAMPUS 109 



have a note is that recorded by the late Mr John Gibson in 

 the " Proceedings " of the Royal Physical Society (vol. iv., 

 p. 99). The record refers to a male having the following 

 dimensions: — Total length along the curve of the back, 

 21 feet 10 inches; girth of body, 13 feet; height of dorsal 

 fin, 3 feet 10 inches. It was captured about a mile 

 west of Granton, on 18th March 1876, and " on being 

 dragged ashore, while still alive, it gave forth shrill 

 piercing cries, somewhat resembling in their sharpness a 

 woman's voice." 



A few years ago, I observed in the seaward portion of 

 the Firth of Forth several Cetaceans, which, from the 

 height and shape of their dorsal fins, I took to be of the 

 present species. 



PILOT OR CAAING WHALE. 



Globicephalus melas {Traill). 



The Pilot Whale may be regarded as an irregular spring 

 and autumn visitant, though comparatively few authenti- 

 cated instances of its occurrence have been recorded. 

 There can be no doubt it is constantly confounded with 

 the last species by the uninitiated, under the name of 

 " Grampus." 



The twenty-five Cetaceans mentioned by Sibbald as stranded 

 at Cramond Island, in the Firth of Forth, in 1690 (" Phalaino- 

 logia," p. 10), are referred by Professor Van Beneden to this 

 species (see his recent " Histoire naturelle des C^taces des 

 mers d'Europe," p. 508). The writer of the "New Statistical 

 Account " of the parish of Alloa considered that the " school" 

 of small whales which occurred in the upper part of the 



