I 



GLOBICEPHALUS MELAS. 135 



broader' tbiiu is cotimiou in that species aud iu beiug a little narrower 

 across the orbits. It is doubtful whether these difterences entitle it to 

 rank as a distinct species. The proportions of the skull are given iu the 

 table on p. 130. 



Phoccena Edwardsii A. Smith. 



Sir Andrew Suiith described this species from a drawing and descrip- 

 tion of E. Verreaux.* The description is partially made up of generic 

 characters, and is also in part contradictory. For example, the sides 

 are said to be black iu one sentence, and in the next, white. The teeth 

 are stated to be It'J^i-, the entire length of the body 12^ feet, the circum- 

 ference in front of the dorsal G| feet, and the breadth of the flukes 25 

 feet. The breadth of the flukes, according to these measurements, equals 

 21.9 per cent, of the total length. In D. Murie's specimen 1 the same 

 breadth is 20.8 per cent, of the total length, and in the Paimpol speci- 

 men cited by Fischer (1. c, p. 187) 22.4 per cent. Since Smith's specimen 

 is intermediate between the other two, and the percentage of the breadth 

 of the flukes to the total length is intermediate between the percentages 

 furnished b}' the other two specimens, it is evident that this measure- 

 ment, which is practically the only tangible character given, is of no sig- 

 nificance as distinguishing the supposed species from G. melas. 



Furthermore, M. Fischer has shown (1. c, p. 193) that a blackfish 

 identical with the 0, melas of European waters occurs about the Cape 

 of Good Hope, and finally Gra}', who had Verreaux's original drawing, 

 states that ''it is very like Glohiocephalus Svineval of the European 

 seas" {Catalogue^ p. 325). M. Fischer is therefore perfectly justified in 

 his assertion : 



II est done probable que le G. melas se moutre sur toute la cote ouest d'Afrique 

 jnsqn'aii Cap, et que le nom de G. Edwardsi doit passer en synonymie.l 



The Globicephalus of Seiv Zealand waters. 



In his Xotes on New Zealand, Whales, in Vol. vii of the Transactions 

 of the New Zealand Institute, p. 201, Dr. Hector describes, under the 

 name of G. macrorhynchus., Gray, the blackfish common of Xew Zealand 

 seas. But it is evident from the description and figures (1. c, PI. xvi, 

 figs. 3 and 3a) that this is not G. macrorhynchus, but rather a species 

 closely resembling, or identical with, G. melas. Professor Flower, who 

 has examined skeletons of the New Zealand form, finds nothing whereby 

 to distinguish it from G. melas {Characters and Divisions, p. 509). 



Sphceroceplialus incrassatus Gray. 



There is apparently no reason to doubt the generally accepted opinion 

 that this species, founded on a water-worn skull, is identical with G. 

 melas. 



* African Zoology. fTrans. Zool. Soc. London, viu, pp. 2\(), 211. t L. c. j). VM. 



