1908-9.] The Skeleton of a Sowerby’s Whale. 
687 
XLI. — The Skeleton of a Sowerby’s Whale (Mesoplodon bidens) 
stranded at St Andrews, and the Morphology of the 
Manus in Mesoplodon, Hyperoodon and the Delphinidse. 
By Sir Will. Turner, K.C.B., D.C.L., F.R.S., President of the Society. 
(Read July 5, 1909. MS. received July 28, 1909.) 
In May 1908 an adult female Sowerby’s whale, Mesoplodon bidens, was 
stranded in St Andrews Bay, about a mile from the clubhouse. Its capture 
and external characters were recorded by Professor W. C. MTntosh in the 
Annals and Magazine of Natural History, December 1908. The skeleton 
was obtained by him for the Gatty Marine Laboratory, and at his request 
I have examined and prepared this report on its characters. 
The first observation on this interesting cetacean as a Scottish species 
was made by Mr James Sowerby * * * § on an animal stranded in the Moray 
Firth near Elgin in 1800 ; no record existed of another example in Scotland 
until 1872, when I described]* the skull of a female in the Museum of 
Science and Art, now the Royal Scottish Museum. In 1881 I obtained 
from Messrs Anderson of Hillswick an imperfect skeleton J of a male 
stranded in April in Urafirth Yoe, North Mavine, Shetland, and in May 
1885 the same gentlemen sent me the carcase of another male § captured 
at Voxter Yoe, Delting, Shetland. In October 1888 a male was stranded 
in Dalgety Bay, on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, the characters of 
which I described at the time.|| In April 1895 another male was captured 
in the Firth of Forth, at Morrison’s Haven, Prestonpans, and its skull, 
some bones, and a limb were secured by my late assistant, Mr James 
Simpson, H for the Anatomical Museum of the University. In drawing up 
the notes on the St Andrews animal, I have compared the skull and skeleton 
with the 1881, 1885, 1888 and 1895 specimens in the Anatomical Museum. 
* The British Miscellany, 1804-1806, vol. i., pi. i. 
t Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxvi. p. 759, 1872. 
J Journal of Anat. and Phys ., vol. xvi., April 1882 ; Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., Jan. 1882. 
§ “ The Anatomy of a Second Specimen of Sowerby’s Whale,” Journal of Anat. and 
Phys., vol. xx. p. 144, October 1885 ; Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xiii. p. 279. 
|| Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edin., vol. x., 1888-1889. 
IT Annals of Scottish Natural History, October 1895, p. 250. 
