310 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
Note on a rare Dolphin ( Delpliinus acutus ), recently stranded 
on the Coast of Sutherland. By Sir William Turner, 
K.C.B., F.R.S. (With Plate.) 
(Read June 4, 1906. MS. received June 29, 1906.) 
Through the courtesy of my friend, the Rev. Dr Joass, of 
Golspie, I received early in April of this year (1906) a specimen of 
a female dolphin, which had been stranded two days previously on 
the beach, about half a mile to the east of Dunrobin Castle, where 
a streamlet enters the sea. The animal, which was carefully secured 
and packed by a keeper and a gardener of the Duke of Sutherland, 
reached the Museum in excellent order, with the markings on the 
skin well seen, and the cuticle not abraded. The short pointed 
beak, the well-defined yellowish and white band, extending for 
some distance along the side of 1 the body, and the dimensions of 
the animal, enabled me, without difficulty, to distinguish the 
species to be Deljihinus acutus (Gray), or, as he subsequently called 
it, Lagenorhynckus leucopleurus , the white-sided dolphin. 
As this dolphin has seldom been captured on our coasts, I took 
the opportunity to have it photographed and to write a 
tion of its characters. 
The principal measurements were as follows : — 
descrip- 
Extreme length along midline of back, 
6 
ft. 
From tip of beak to anterior margin of dorsal fin, 
29 
in. 
„ „ to anterior border of flipper, . 
14 
j) 
Length of flipper in straight line, 
10 
33 
„ of attached border of flipper, 
4 
33 
,, of attached base of dorsal fin. 
11 
33 
Height of dorsal fin, 
6-5 
33 
Width of tail, ...... 
15 
33 
Girth in front of dorsal fin, .... 
35-75 
Girth at root of tail, ..... 
7-5 
33 
Length of lower jaw, ..... 
12-1 
33 
The head ended in front in a pointed tip, and the lower jaw 
scarcely projected beyond the upper. One and three-quarter inch 
