ZIPHIOID WHALES, 



251 



furrows of a Y-shape (point in front), a single somewhat crescentic blow-hole, placed crosswise in the 

 middle of the head, absence or only rudiments of teeth in the upper jaws, and one or two pairs of 

 very peculiar teeth, variable in size, in the lower jaws, along with certain other peculiarities of the 

 skull. We shall refer but to a few of the group. 



Of the genus Ziphius we may admit CUVIER'S WHALE* and VAN BENEDEN'S WHALED Their size 

 appears to vary from sixteen to twenty-four feet, and their colour is said to be steel-grey, with irregular 

 white body streaks, the abdomen also being whitish. The head is less prominent than in the Bottle- 

 head, and the snout is a trifle shorter, with the lower jaw slightly upturned, fuller than the upper, and 

 furnished with two teeth at the tip. The flippers are short and somewhat pointed, and the dorsal fin 

 is situated well behind, and not very large. There is a deep hollow at the base of the rostrum or beak, 

 over which the skull rises crest-like from behind forwards. The genus Ziphius was originally based on 

 a supposed fossil skull from near the mouth of the Rhone ; living species, however, have been since- 



HEAD OF MESOPLODON. (After Andrews.) 



recorded, and of one from South America Burmeister gives a detailed notice under the name of 

 Fpiodon australis ; still it is doubtful whether this is not one of the two above-mentioned animals. 



SOWERBY'S WHALE J is representative of the genus Mesoplodon. This animal is black above, 

 white below, and the sides marked with wriggly white streaks. The small dorsal fin is situated well 

 back, the flippers are small and narrow, the head is rather low, sloping towards the beak, and the upper 

 jaw is shorter than the under. It also has two teeth in the lower, and none in the upper jaw. Thus 

 externally it bears strong resemblance to Cuvier's Whale, but it differs in the slender beak, without a 

 hollow at its base. Sowerby's Whale is interesting from having been first obtained in 1800 off the 

 Elgin Coast, and described by Mr. Sowerby as the Two-toothed Cachalot (Physeter bidens). The genus 

 Mesoplodon has since given rise to considerable discussion, various names being assigned to it. 

 Professor Flower points out that of the various Ziphioid Whales obtained on British coasts, 

 France, the Cape, and New Zealand, described as different genera, &c., he recognises seven species 

 of Mesoplodon, Sowerby's Whale being the type, and 'the others differing chiefly in the form of the 

 teeth. Another of this curious family is the NEW ZEALAND BERARDIUS, of which some four 

 specimens only are known to science. Dr. Julius Haast records the capture of one near Canterbury, 

 New Zealand, in 1868, which animal was 30| feet long, velvety black, with greyish belly. One of 

 the observers who saw the creature alive stated that it protruded its teeth a remarkable fact if 



Z. cavirostris. 



t Z. indicus. 



M. Sowerbiensis. 



Berardius Arnouxi, 



