119 



" The animal has the power of protruding the four teeth at will ; it 

 was young ; lived on cephalopods, for the stomach contained about a 

 bushel of the horny beaks of the octopus, which were nearly all of 

 the same size ; and it measured in length 30 feet 6 inches. 



" This whale was cast ashore on the coast of Canterbury, New 

 Zealand." From Dr. Haast 1868. 



Duvernoy's specimen, obtained in 1846 at the Port of Akaroa, was 

 32 feet long. A smaller one was stranded in 1862 on the west coast of 

 New Zealand, and described by Dr. Hector and Mr. Knox ; and in 

 1870 another animal of this species was captured near the entrance to 

 Port Nicholson. This measured 27 feet, and is described in the Trans, 

 of the New Zealand Institute, by Mr. Knox : " The tooth is still 

 sheathed in the gum, being embedded in a tough cartilaginous sac, 

 which adheres loosely in the socket of the jaw, and is moved by a 

 series of muscular bundles that elevate and depress it." 



There is no representative of this cetacean in the Australian Museum, 



(<?.) MiCEOZoopHAGA 1 or Insect-eaters. 



SUB-ORDER II. ANODONTOCETE. 2 



Whalebone Whales. 



Mysticete, Gray ; Mi/stacoceti, Flower ; Cete vermivora, Lesson ; Cetacea? 



edentula, Brisson. 



Teeth none ; palate furnished with long whalebone, hollow at the 

 growing end, functionally analogous to the pulp-cavity of the molar 

 teeth of the megatherium, or the tusk of the elephant ; whalebone 

 disposed in numerous parallel laminae, pendent in two longitudinal 

 rows from the roof of the upper jaw ; each blade composed of a central 

 layer of course fibrous tissue, emitting from its inner edge fine hair- 

 like filaments, and coated on both sides and outer edge by compact, 

 more or less polished enamel ; head exceedingly large ; external respi- 

 ratory organ divided into two distinct orifices ; gullet very contracted ; 

 eyes small, near the angle of the mouth ; upper jaw more or less arched 

 on the roof, narrow, and commonly shorter than the lower one ; lower 

 jaw broad, greatly curved outwardly and receives the upper lips when 

 the mouth is closed ; rami of the mandible connected by fibrous tissue 

 at their tips and not by a true symphysis ; upper surface of skull sym- 

 metrical ; sternum composed of one piece, and attached by bone direct 

 to the first pair of ribs only, there being no costo-sternal ribs. 



1 fj.iKp6s, small ; &ov, animal ; and (paya, I eat. 



2 a, without ; o5ot$y, tooth ; and KIJTOS, whale. 



