PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 
vol. xi. 18,81-82. No. 111. 
Monday, 20 th February 1882. 
Professor MACLAGAN, M.D., Vice-President, 
in the Chair. 
The following Communications were read 
1. On a Specimen of Balcenoptera borealis or laticeps captured 
in the Firth of Forth. By Professor Turner. 
In September 1872 a whale of some magnitude was seen floun- 
dering in shallow water at Snab, Kinneil, about a mile from Bo’ness, 
on the Firth of Forth. Some men proceeded to the spot and fast- 
ening a rope round its tail, hauled it closer to the shore, and then 
killed it. I was not at home at the time, but on reading a notice 
of its capture in the Scotsman of September 26, I wrote to my 
assistant, the late Mr A. B. Stirling, to go and see the animal. He 
reported to me that it was a whalebone whale, ribbed and grooved 
on the belly, and he was able to make the following notes on its 
colour and dimensions : — 
The animal was black on the back of the head and body and 
dorsum of the tail. The belly was pinkish white, with a shade of 
yellow, from chin to anus. Behind the anus it was patched with 
white to three feet from the tail. Behind this again the colour 
varied from lead grey to black, and the under as well as the upper 
surface of the tail was black. The breadth of the dorsum of the 
head at the tip of the upper lip was 2 inches ; one foot further back 
it was 9 inches ; two feet back 1 8 inches ; and at the blowholes, 
3 feet. The dorsal fin had a falcate posterior border, and its long 
vol. xi. 3 u 
