Nufes from the Gattij Marine Laboratory. 



II' 



XI. — Notes from the Gatty Marine Laboratory, St. Andrew.'^. 

 —No. XXXIII. By Prof. M'Intosh, xM.D., LL.D., 

 F.R.S., &c. 



[Plates IV. & v.] 



1. On a White Porpoise. 



2. Ou the Spawning of the Hake (Merlucchis merluccius, L.). 



3. On Eteone depressa, Mgrn., var., a Species not hitherto found in 



Britain. 



4. On Nereis zonata, Mgrn., in Britain. 



5. On the British CapitellidcB {Halelmintlmhe). 



6. On the Capitellidcc procured by H.M.S. ' rorcupiue.' 



1. On a White Porpoise. 



For nearly a fortnight amateur fishermen wlio used tlie 

 hand-lines at night were surprised to see about the beginning 

 of August a ^Yhitish porpoise, or, as some thought, a Belvya, 

 disporting itself in St. Andrews Bay, and it was also ob- 

 served by the salmon fishermen early in the morning. It 

 was never in company with its neighbours, but was always 

 solitary. On the morning of the 10th August it was 

 entangled in the salmon stake-nets oft' Kinkell Ness, about 

 two miles from St. Andrews. When brought to the 

 Laboratory it was found to be a young female measuring 

 34 inches in length (PI. IV.) and was o£ a dull yellowish 

 white all over like that of Beluga, though when care- 

 fully examined a faint longitudinal band occurred along 

 the upper lateral region on each side. In front of the eye, 

 again, a curved band of a blackish hue passed from the 

 vertex forward, made a bold sweep forward, and then curved 

 backward to the angle of the mouth. The shape of the 

 entire patch was somewhat crescentic, the dark pigment 

 being toned off" at the margin. The eyes had the normal 

 pigment, and thus diftered from those of an albino. 



Though it is rare to find any noteworthy change in the 

 blackish pigment of the dorsum of the porpoise, variations 

 occasionally occur in the hue of the latero-ventral and the 

 ventral surface in the form of pale or greyish pigment or 

 dull streaks. Again, in a foetal porpoise about G inches in 

 length (18th November, 1911) the anterior region of the 

 head, the vertex to a line with the perpendicular from the 

 anterior base of the flipper was dark, and the entire dorso- 

 lateral region to the tail was of a dull grey hue. The under 

 surface and the ventro-lateral regions were pale. The 

 flippers, dorsal fin, and the caudal flukes were blackish, the 

 pigment on the latter being densest ventrally. In another 



