34 Proceedings of the Royal Society 
the lakes must be greatly younger than the plication of the strata 
of the Alpine chain ; that from the known effects of subaerial denu- 
datoni, the lakes must be, in a geological sense, quite modern ; and 
that the Alpine lakes possessed no distinctive features which en- 
titled them to be considered apart from the numerous lakes which 
are scattered over northern Europe and America. He regarded the 
enormous development of lakes at the present period in northern 
latitudes as a fact which could not be explained by reference to 
subterranean movements. Such movements must have taken place 
in a late geological period, otherwise the lakes would have been 
filled up with sediment, as is going on every day. He could not 
but think that the formation of such lake-basins was connected in 
some way with the action of the denuding forces, and he believed 
that the theory proposed by Professor Ramsay — that the rock- 
basins had been hollowed out by the ice of the glacial period — ful- 
filled all the geological conditions of the problem, and would 
eventually come to be accepted even by the geologists of Switzer- 
land. 
2. Preliminary Notice of the Great Fin Whale, recently 
stranded at Longniddry. By Professor Turner. 
This communication was preliminary to a more extended memoir 
which the author hopes to lay before the Society during the Session. 
The colour, general form, and dimensions of the animal, w r ere 
taken when the whale was lying on the shore at Longniddry. The 
observations on its internal structure were made whilst it was 
undergoing the operation of flensing at Kirkcaldy, or on specimens 
which were brought over to the Anatomical Museum of the Uni- 
versity. These specimens it was his intention to preserve in the 
Museum. In conducting the examination he had been ably and 
willingly seconded by the thoroughly cordial and enthusiastic 
co-operation of his assistant Mr Stirling, and his pupils Mr Millen 
Coughtrey, and Mr James Foulis. 
Most of the Fin Whales which had been subjected to examina- 
tion by British and Continental anatomists had been found floating 
dead on the surface of the sea, and had then been towed ashore ; 
but the Longniddry whale had got entangled, whilst living, amongst 
