184 FAUNA OF MEW ZEALAND. 



Inhab. New Zealand. Tuku peru of the natives. 

 Dieffenbach. 



The body smooth, short, thick ; the gape very large, arched, 

 suddenly bent down at the angle ; the blower on the back part of 

 the head, a little before a perpendicular line from the eye ; the 

 ends of the upper and lower jaw with a roundish rough protuber- 

 ance ; length of the body 60 feet ; length of the head to the angle 

 of the gape 9 feet; of the flippers, or fins, 3J feet; breadth be- 

 tween fins on the abdomen 8 feet 2 inches. 



The above short description of this species is taken from a very 

 good drawing made from the actual admeasurement of the speci- 

 men . This drawing has been carefully reduced by squaring in 

 the accompanying plate ; and, as the proportions differ considerably 

 from the figure usually given of the Northern Whalebone Whale, 

 I have been induced to regard it as a new species. 



Polack records two other Whales, as 



13. The Mungu Nue, or Black Physeter, Polack, i. 323, 



which is the same as the Pike-headed Whale of the 

 Appendix. 



14. The Razor-back, Polack, ii. 407. 



" Back remarkably serrated, and the mouth very much pointed 

 like to the Porpoise." 



Besides these quadrupeds there are mentioned 



15. The New Holland Dog. Canis familiaris Australis, 



Desm. ; Canis Dingo, Blumenb. 



Said to have been introduced from Australia, but according to 

 Polack, i. 320, " It has been an inhabitant some two or three 

 centuries." It would be interesting to institute an accurate com- 

 parison between these animals and an Australian specimen. The 

 adults are called Kararake, and the young Kuri^ by the natives. 



** The dog of the natives is not the Australian dingo, but a 

 much smaller variety, resembling the jackal, and of a dirty yel- 

 lowish colour. It is now rarely met with, as almost the whole 

 race of the island has become a mongrel breed. A native dog of 

 New Zealand is not a sufficiently powerful animal to do harm to 

 domestic sheep, but it is different with the introduced and mongrel 

 dogs, mostly bull-terriers or bloodhounds, which are savage pig- 

 dogs, although with men they are great cowards. In want of 

 better sport they hunt young birds, and to this cause the scarcity 

 of many indigenous birds must be ascribed. The natives also call 

 the dog sometimes " Pero" (Spanish) : they have a tradition that 



