Dr. J. E. Gray on Macleayius australiensis. 75 



nostrils are about opposite to the micldclle of the length of the 

 alveolar plate. The alveolar surface of the lower jaw is slightly 

 concave, with a raised edge on the hinder side ; it is rather 

 broader behind, and gradually slightly narrowed towards the 

 front. There is a large slightly elevated rounded tubercle 

 occupying the whole of the middle of the alveolar surfaces 

 between the two rami, and a slight elevation on the outer 

 margin on each side of the middle, giving the edge of the 

 jaws rather a sinuated appearance. 



X. — On the ]\Iacleayius australiensis from New Zealand. 

 By Dr. J. E. Geay, F.E.S. &c. 



Dr. Haast has sent the skeleton of a New-Zealand whale 

 to the British Museum as that of Caperea antipodarum ; but 

 the examination of the bones led me at first to believe that 

 it was Euhalmna australis. However, on further examination, 

 the cervical vertebrae and the blade-bone show that it cannot 

 belong to either of those genera ; for it has a broad upper 

 process to the atlas, while they have a small narrow one ; and 

 it has an acromial process to the scapula, which is only very 

 rudimentary in Caperea^ and is of very diiferent shape in 

 Euhalcena ; like most whales, it has no coracoid. The form 

 of the lobes of the atlas are so like those figured from a pho- 

 tograph by Mr. Krefft, which I described and figured as 

 Macleayius australiensis in the ^ Proc. Zool. Soc' 1864, and 

 ill the ' Catalogue of Seals and Whales in the British 

 Museum,' 1866, p. 105, f. 10,11, and p. 372, f. 74, 75, that 

 I am inclined to consider it an example of that genus, 

 which was previously known only from a mass of cervical 

 vertebras in the Australian Museum at Sydney. 



Upper jaw very narrow ; the nasal bones oblong elongate, 

 arched out at the front end. Cervical vertebras united into 

 one mass. Atlas very large and thick, with a very long upper 

 process forming a large keeled crest, which is united to the 

 upper process of the five following vertebra? ; the upper 

 lateral process of the atlas high, square, truncated at the end; 

 the lower process twice as high as broad, with an oblong, 

 rounded end. The other cervical vertebras short, thin : the 

 second with slender upper and lower lateral processes; the 

 remainder with only descending superior processes (and no 

 indication of inferior), which are slender in all but the seventh 

 vertebra, where they are thick and truncated; and this is 

 the only vertebra that has the upper part distinct from 

 the bony crest. The ear-bone is very like that of Euhahvna. 

 The sternum is oblong, with two or three irregular tubercles at 

 the side. The first rib, like the others, is simple. The blade- 



