BEAKED WHALES 229 



of its occurrence, and one of these records cannot be 

 regarded as applying without doubt to Berardius. 

 The fullest account of its external appearance is given 

 by Sir Julius von Haast. 



The creature reaches a length of thirty to thirty- 

 two feet, the specimen examined by Haast being 

 thirty feet six inches in total length. Its colour is 

 described by him as of a velvety black, with the 

 exception of the lower portion of the belly, which 

 had a greyish tinge. This agrees exactly with the 

 account of the first specimen, upon the examination 

 of whose skull Duvernoy based the genus Berardius. 

 That individual, however, was thirty-two feet in 

 lenoth. It has not been noticed whether the 



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longitudinal throat plaits present in other Ziphioid 

 whales also exist in the species under discussion. 

 This whale is described as bellowing like a bull. It 

 will be remembered that Mesoplodon bidens was stated 

 to low like a cow. But the most remarkable observa- 

 tion as to its economy was made by the wife of the 

 fisherman who discovered the example referred to by 

 Haast. " She told her husband that each time he put 

 the stick into the whale's mouth she could see several 

 large teeth in front of its lower jaw, which, however, 

 were not observed by anybody else, and the existence 

 of which was only revealed when the skull was 

 cleaned, when in front of the lower jaw two large 

 triangular and movable teeth on each side became 



o 



exposed. It thus seems that the Ziphioid whales, 

 when defenclino- themselves from their enemies, or 



o 



attacking their prey, have the power to protrude these 



