SOWERBY'S WHALE 
" But the most remarkable feature was the presence of a number of 
curiously shaped marks sparsely distributed over the body, but most con- 
spicuous on the side and ventral surface. These spots were most irregular 
in size and figure, others mere blotches, others again having the appearance 
of splashes or smears varying in size up to that of a man's hand." 
The first example of Sowerby's Whale known to naturalists, which was 
described by Sowerby, was obtained on the shores of the Moray Firth near 
Nairn in 1800. 
Since that date others have come ashore from time to time, mostly 
in Scotland, and the latest I know of is one obtained on the Lincolnshire 
coast mentioned in Sir Sidney Harmer's Report on Cetacea Stranded on the 
British Coasts during 191 6. 
The knowledge of the distribution of Sowerby's Whale is meagre. It 
has been taken on the coasts of Scandinavia, whence it ranges as far as 
Australia and New Zealand in the Pacific. 
TRUE'S BEAKED WHALE. 
Mesoplodon minis. 
An example of this very rare beaked whale — first described by the 
late W. F. True in 1913 (True, 1913, Proc. U.S. H^t. Mus., xlv. pi. 51), 
from a specimen taken at Beaufort Harbour, North Carolina — was obtained 
at Liscannor, County Clare, Ireland, on June 9th, 19 17. Another is 
said to have been stranded in Gal way Bay about 1899. 
This species appears to be closely related to Sowerby's Whale, but 
the characteristic pair of teeth in True's Beaked Whale are placed at 
the point of the lower jaw as in Cuvier's Whale. 
I am indebted to Mr. W. P. Pycraft for the above mentioned particulars. 
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