162 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Soctety. 
DELPHINAPTERUS LEUCAS (Pall.). BELUGA OR 
WHITE WHALE. 
The Beluga can only be regarded as a casual visitant of 
extreme rarity, its claim to a place in the fauna of the district 
resting on the occurrence of a single (male) specimen in the 
Firth of Forth so far back as 1815. It was killed early in 
June of that year in the upper part of the estuary, near 
Cambuskenneth, by salmon-fishers, who attacked it with fire- 
arms and spears. Hearing of the capture, Mr Robert Bald of 
Alloa promptly secured it, and had it forwarded to Professor 
Jameson of Edinburgh, and in December of the following 
year an account of it was communicated to the Wernerian 
Natural History Society by Dr Barclay and Mr Neill. Their 
paper, illustrated by two plates, on one of which is a sketch 
of the animal, was printed in the Society’s Memozrs (vol. iii., 
pp. 371-395). For about three months it had been observed 
almost daily passing and repassing Alloa harbour, and it was 
often observed at Kincardine also. It generally passed up 
the estuary (in pursuit of salmon it was supposed) when the 
tide was flowing, and returned with the ebb. Measured in 
a straight line, its extreme length was 13 feet 4 inches. Its 
stuffed skin is still preserved in the Museum - Science and 
Art, Edinburgh. 
The species being an inhabitant of high northern latitudes, 
and only a rare straggler to the European side of the North 
Atlantic, this specimen is likely still long to remain unique 
as a Forth example. 
PHOCENA COMMUNIS J Cuv. PORPOISE. 
The Porpoise is by far the best-known Cetacean we have, 
occurring abundantly in the estuaries or adjoining waters 
throughout the year; it is, indeed, the only species which 
can be regarded as common and resident. In pursuit of its 
prey it ascends both the Tay and the Forth, practically as 
high as the tide flows, and it is not unfrequently captured in 
the salmon stake-nets by the shore and in herring-nets at sea. 
To those who take advantage of the summer sailings on the 
