1879.] 



PROF. FLOWER ON THE SKULL OF A BELUGA. 



667 



Prof. Flower exhibited the skull of a Beluga, or White "Whale, 

 Belphinapterus leucas (Pallas), which has been presented by His 

 Grace the Duke of Sutherland to the Museum of the Royal College 

 of Surgeons, and made the following remarks : — 



As this cetacean has been but rarely observed in the British seas, 

 and as there is but one known instance in which a specimen has been 

 taken alive and authenticated by preservation of its remains \ the cir- 

 cumstances relating to its capture, as described in a letter from the 

 Rev. Dr. Joass, of Golspie, may be worth recording : — 



"It was found close to the salmon-nets near the Little Ferry, 

 about three miles to the westward of Dunrobin, Sutherlandshire, at ebb 

 tide, on Monday, June 9th, 1 879, caught by the tail between two short 

 posts to which a stay-rope of the stake-net was fastened (see fig. 1 ) ; 

 and a Salmon of 18 lb. weight, which was supposed to have been 

 the object of its pursuit, was found in front of it. It measured 12 

 feet 6 inches in length. The tail was 34 inches across, and the 

 flippers 1 7 inches long. It was a female, and had 20 teeth in the 



Fig. 1. The mode in which the Beluga was caught. From a sketch by the 



Rev. Dr. Joass. 



upper jaw and 16 in the lower. The stomach contained a few flakes 

 of fish, which from size and colour might have been Salmon. It was 

 found, on cleaning the skeleton, that in its efforts to escape the "Whale 

 had broken its back between the third and fourth lumbar vertebra ; 

 and it had a recent granulating wound on the frontal pad, extending 

 about five inches transversely, and about three inches broad, the 

 lower edge being on a line between the eyes. I have heard since 

 that two days before its capture it was seen off Cracaig by Brora 

 fishermen who were lying at their lines. At first they thought it a 

 human body ; as it approached against the ebb, they took it for a 

 ghost ! At still closer quarters they saw that it was a living beast of 

 some kind bearing down upon them, and plied it with stones 

 (their spare sinkers), hoping that it would turn aside and not oblige 

 them to leave their ground ; but it hardly heeded them, and so they 



1 Bell's British Quadrupeds, 2nd edit, p.440. 



