346 



Proceedings of the Boyal Physical Society. 



XXVI. Notice of the captitre of Delphinus delphis in the 

 Firth of Forth. By Professor Sir Wm. Tukner, M.B., 

 LL.D., I'.B.S., President of the Society, 

 (Read 16th March 1887.) 



In the month of February my assistant, Mr James 

 Simpson, observed in the window of an Edinburgh fish- 

 monger a specimen of a small cetacean — obviously not a 

 porpoise. On inquiry he found that it had been shot in the 

 Firth of Forth, and it was purchased for the Anatomical 

 Museum of the University. 



Mr J. Melville Webster of Cramond Manse has kindly 

 communicated to me the following particulars of its capture. 

 He was rowing, along with some companions, from Queens- 

 ferry to Cramond, keeping close in shore, when, in a small 

 bay on the Dalmeny estate between Queensferry and Hound 

 Point, a school of six or eight small cetaceans, swimming 

 about in pairs, was seen. Although Mr Webster could not 

 say positively that they were all of the same species, as 

 their beaks were not all seen above the water, yet it is 

 probable that they were so. One animal was shot from the 

 boat, but its companion, which escaped, was considerably 

 bigger. In all probability the larger specimen was a male. 



From the form and length of the beak, the number of 

 teeth, and the coloration of the skin, there was no difficulty 

 in determining the specimen to be the common dolphin, 

 Peljphinus delphis. It was a female, and obviously not full 

 grown. In the following table I have recorded the chief 

 measurements in feet and inches : — 



Extreme length in straight line, 



Circumference in front of dorsal fin. 



Width across tail, 



From notch of tail to anns, 



From vulva to umbilicus, 



Length of anterior border of flipper, 



From root of flipper to angle of mouth. 



Length of mouth slit, 



Angle of mouth to eye. 



Eye to meatus auditorius, 



Height of dorsal fin, . 



Blowhole to tip of beak. 



Transverse diameter of blowhole, 



Ft. In. 

 5 5i 

 3 Oi 

 

 6 

 Of 



7i 



n 



2 



1^ 



4| 



111 



Of 



