Volume 9 - Electric Scotland

MARINE MAMMALS OF THE NORTH-EAST OF SCOTLAND 69
skull of a species of this genus which may be from the Moray
Firth. I believe that members of this genus have been often
taken for Lagenorhynchus acntus, for the one animal is just as
much a white-sided dolphin as the other. With the exception
of a young skull in University College, Dundee, I know of
no other skull of L. aaitus in any Scotch museum.
It
SEALS.
is surprising that many educated people in the north of
Scotland say there are only two species of seals found on our
coasts ; yet five or six species have been recorded from the
Scottish seas. Strange to say, Mr. Lydekker makes no
mention of PJioca barbata in his book on British mammals.
PJioca grcenlandica has been recorded from the coast of
Abercleenshire. I do not know of any
record of PJioca
Jiispida in or near the Moray Firth.
PHOCA VITULINA (Common Seal). 'Is often caught in
salmon-nets on both sides of the Moray Firth, and sometimes
dead ones are washed ashore.
HALICII/ERUS GRYPUS (Gray Seal). Is also caught
occasionally in salmon-nets. I have the skull of a male
from Port-Gordon.
A very large one was caught some years
ago near Burghead, but probably it is more frequently found
on the north side of the Moray Firth.
Even the rare CystopJiora cristata may be looked for
in the Moray Firth, as it has been recorded from Orkney
within the past few years.
As seals are sometimes cast ashore in a putrid state with
part of the hair wanting, the species cannot be identified
except by an examination of the skull. As I have the skulls
of three or four species always at hand, I should like to
receive notice of any dead specimens seen along the shores
of the Moray Firth, or have the skulls sent to me, whole or
broken, for the purpose of identification also of
; any
Whale or Porpoise over six feet long, for these should always
be seen and identified.
LHANBRYDE, ELGIN.