156 Transactions. — Zoology. 



from the north side of the bay, and showed us the whale. 

 We found the carcase just above high-water mark, nearly 

 imbedded in sand, which had thus preserved the animal from 

 decay, so that it appeared quite fresh. On removing the 

 sand we discovered that the animal had been a good deal cut 

 about — the head had been disarticulated from the vertebral 

 column, and lay near at hand ; the lower jaw, however, had 

 been removed, and the top of the head had been injured by 

 the removal of the little spermaceti contained there. The 

 dorsal wall of the body had, likewise, been cut away for the 

 blubber, and with it the dorsal fin. The tail-flukes were also 

 missing, and the abdomen had been opened by a cut through 

 the right sternal ribs, and the viscera lay outside the body. 



Owing to the damage done I was unable to trace the true 

 outlines of the body, or to locate the dorsal fin. This is the 

 more to be regretted since specimens of this whale are rare ; 

 but fortunately Von Haast was able to give some further 

 details of his specimen. Through the kind offices of Mr. Ewart 

 I was, however, able to obtain the flukes from the Maori 

 who had first discovered the whale, and who had cut away 

 the blubber, &c. ; and at a later period I obtained the lower 

 jaw from a fisherman, who had retained and cleaned the bone 

 as a " curio." Thus I obtained the entire skeleton — -not a 

 bone was missing.* The carcase was conveyed to Dunedin, 

 together with some of the viscera — the stomach, larynx, 

 generative organs — an account of which I have forwarded to 

 the Zoological Society of London.! 



The " short-headed sperm whale" has been described from 

 our seas in the Transactions by Dr. Von Haast under the 

 name of Euphysetes pottsii, but cetaceologists are now agreed 

 that the various whales described as various species — Euphy- 

 setes simus, Owen, from India; Euph. grayii, Wall, and Euph. 

 macleayi, Krefft, from the Australian seas ; K. floioeri, Gill, 

 from the American coast of the North Pacific ; and our New 

 Zealand form — are all members of one and the same species 

 — viz., Rogial breviceps, originally described by De Blainville 

 from a specimen from the Cape of Good Hope. 



The various differences relied upon by these authors as of 

 specific value are merely such as are due either to differences 

 of sex or of age, or individual variations in the various speci- 

 mens taken in various localities. 



The specimen under consideration was a male, not quite 



* With the possible exception of the pelvic bone. 



t See my papers — (1) "On the Larynx of certain Whales," P.Z.S., 

 1901, vol. i., p. 278 ; (2) " On the Anatomy of Cogia breviceps," 1901, 

 vol. ii., p. 107. 



I So spelt by Gray ; but Flower, in his text-book on mammalia, 

 spells it " Cogia." 



