Tertiary.] PALAEONTOLOGY OF VICTORIA. [Mammalia. 



Miocene is singularly rich in species of Ziphioid Whales, so rare in 

 the existing seas. It is with great pleasure therefore that I draw 

 attention to the similar occurrence of such remains in those Tertiary 

 strata at and near Geelong, to which, from other evidence, I had 

 formerly assigned the Miocene Tertiary age for the maps of the 

 Geological Survey. 



The snout is formed of the maxillaries and premaxillaries on the 

 sides, and the prefrontal above and vomer below in the midline. 



The excessively hard, dense, porcellaneous character of the bones 

 of the snout of the Ziphioid Whales is in singular contrast to those 

 of other Cetacea, or other parts of the skeleton of these ; and this 

 accounts for the preservation of the hard, ringing, stony remains so 

 characteristic of these portions of the various species and so-called 

 genera of fossil Ziphioids described from the English and Belgian 

 Crag formations. Exactly similar, dense, bony fragments, no doubt 

 forming portions of the snouts of Ziphioid Whales, are in the 

 Museum collection, from the same layer in the Waurn Ponds 

 quarries as have afforded the present tooth, and some of these I 

 have no doubt belong to the same species, but none of the 

 fragments are sufficiently perfect to enable me to indicate the 

 characters of the skull ; these fragments were contributed by the 

 late Rev. Mr. Legge, of Brighton, the Rev. Mr. Price and Mr. 

 Nelson, of Geelong. 



In Prof. Turner's "Report on the bones of the Cefocea," forming 

 Part IV. of the Zoology of the Challenger, the interesting fact is 

 mentioned that ear-bones of Ziphioid Whales have been dredged in 

 abundance from the surface of the sea-bottom at the greatest depth 

 of the South Pacific, at 2,350 to 2,750 fathoms, in company with 

 numerous extinct Tertiary species of sharks' teeth of the genera 

 Carcharodon, Lamna, and Oxyrhina, an association which occurs 

 with the present animal in the Waurn Ponds quarries, near Geelong. 

 The scientific staff of the Challenger suggesting that there being 

 little or no earthy deposits at this depth, the Ziphii and extinct 

 Sharks have lain there since the Tertiary times, with occasional 

 additions of recent species in more modern times ; an observation 

 which, as Sir C. Wyville Thomson remarks, is among the most 

 curious and interesting results of the Expedition. 



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