102 



BALiENID.E. 



margin ; the lower margin angular. The lower surface is moderately 

 convex, the aperture very irregular, narrow, and contracted above, 

 truncated below (see fig. 9). 



Inhab. New Zealand ; Otago {Mr. Stuart). 



" The beach at Toiy Channel, New Zealand, was covered with re- 

 mains of whales' skulls, vertebrae, huge shoulder-blades, and fins." — 

 Bieffenbach, New Zealand, i. 35. 



The figure in Dieifenbach's ' Voyage ' " is from a cow whale 60 feet 

 long, drawn while afloat, so that its shape was unaltered. The Black 

 Whales of New Zealand appear to be inferior in size to those of the 

 Northern seas. The cow whale figured was regarded as being of 

 an unusually large size. Scoresby says he has measured Greenland 

 AVliales 70 to 72 feet long." 



" The male or bull whale is very rai-ely caught on the shores of New 

 Zealand, as it never approaches the land so near as the female and 

 young do, and is more shy and wild. The season in which whaling 

 is carried on is from May to October. In the beginning of May the 

 cows approach the shallow coast and smooth waters for the purpose of 

 bringing forth their young. This period lasts about four months, as 

 in May whales are seen with newly-born calves, and cows have been 

 killed in July in full gestation. During the same month also copu- 

 lation is sometimes observed by the whalers. In company with the 

 cows are also the calves of the preceding year or years ; it is uncer- 

 tain at what age the whale attains its full size or leaves its mother. 

 The young whales are called iScrac/s, and they yield about four 

 tuns of oil. The full-grown foetus is 14 feet long." 



" The whale is a truly migratory animal. They arrive at the coast 

 of New Zealand in the beginning of May from the northward, and go 

 through Cook's Strait, keeping along the coast of the Northern 

 Island, and pass between the latter and Entry Island. They are 

 never seen on the opposite coast, nor do they enter the northern en- 

 trance of Queen Charlotte's Sound. From Entry Island they sweep 

 into Cloudy Bay, and at the end of October they go either to the 

 eastward or return to the northward. From the month of June 

 they begin to show themselves near Chatham Island, where their 

 numbers increase with the termination of the season in the latter 

 place. During the six remaining months of the year, the ships 

 cruising in the ' whaling-ground ' fall in with many whales. This 

 whaling-ground extends from Chatham Island to the eastward of 

 the northern islands of New Zealand, and from thence to Norfolk 

 Island." 



" The results of the whale-fishery on the coast of New Zealand are 

 of very small amount in the British market, owing to the indiscrimi- 

 nate slaughter of the fish during the last fifteen years, without due 

 regard to the preservation of the dams and their young. The shore- 

 whalers, in himting the animal in the season when it visits the 

 shallow water of the coast to bring forth the young and suckle it in 

 security, have felled the tree to obtain the fruit, and have thus taken 

 the most certain means of destroying an otherwise profitable and 

 important trade." 



