98 CETACEA 



and the Whale was again free, after being " fast " for nearly 

 twenty-two hours to a dead weight of between twenty and 

 thirty tons, which it was computed it had towed between 

 forty and fifty miles. Of course it was wounded beyond the 

 possibility of recovery. For the time being, however, it made 

 its escape, and was not seen again for a week, when some 

 fishermen observed the carcase floating off Bervie, and on 8th 

 January towed it into Stonehaven harbour, where it was sold 

 for 226 to Mr Woods, Dundee, who had it embalmed, and 

 for the next seven months it was on exhibition in various 

 towns in Scotland and England. The skeleton was presented 

 by Mr Woods to the Dundee Museum. Seeing this specimen, 

 during its endeavours to effect its escape, is known to have 

 approached within a few miles of the Carr Rock, the species 

 may be given a place in the Forth fauna. 



SIBBALD'S RORQUAL. 

 BAL^NOPTERA SIBBALDI (Gray}. 



Sibbald's Rorqual, or the Blue Whale the largest creature 

 at present known to inhabit the globe is another rare 

 casual visitant to our shores, only three examples having 

 been recorded during the present century. The large whale, 

 78 feet long, stranded at Abercorn, in the estuary of the Forth, 

 in September 1692, and recorded by Sibbald (" Phalainologia 

 nova," p. 33), in all probability belonged, as has been pointed 

 out by Sir William Turner, to this species. Three undoubted 

 examples, however, have since occurred in the Forth. The 

 first is the huge animal, 80 feet in length, whose skeleton 

 hangs in the Museum of Science and Art, Edinburgh. It 

 was found floating dead at the mouth of the Firth in October 

 1831, and was towed ashore near North Berwick, and sold 



