108 Dr. J. E. Gray on the Whales and 



seas. It is accompanied bj tracings of the skull of Epiodon 

 chathamiensis, of the lower jaw of Mesoplodon Layardii, of the 

 ear-bones (represented half the natural size) of Neobalcena 

 marginata^ Megapteral ^ Berardius Arnouxii, and Berardius 

 Hectori. 



1. NeohalcBna marginata. 



The discovery that the baleen named Balcena marginata^ 

 and that the ear-bones on which 1 first established the genus 

 Oa^J^erea, belong to this whale is entirely due to Dr. Hector; and 

 I gladly accept the correction, although it has always appeared 

 to me that the baleen is very narrow and long for a whale with 

 such a broad upper jaw compared with that of the northern 

 Right Whale ; but that may be a peculiarity of the group. The 

 combination of characters thus brought together indicates an 

 entirely new group of whales, which I propose to call Neoba- 

 Imnidce. 



The form of the skull and ear-bones is peculiar and very 

 different from that of any known group of Cetacea ; and I have 

 always found that the characters derived from these parts are 

 connected with peculiar modifications of the external form. 

 The removal of the ear-bone of Neobalcena from the family 

 Balffinidte makes the character from that bone in that family 

 as uniform as it is in the other families of Balajnoidea. In 

 form and structure the whalebone is finer, but very similar 

 to that of the Greenland Right Whale, and shows an affinity 

 of this family to the Balsnidaj ; but the structure of the head 

 is more like that of the Physalida3, as far as we can judge from 

 the figure, never having had an opportunity of seeing the skull 

 itself. The dilated character of the lower jaw is very peculiar, 

 and no doubt characteristic. The face, or rather maxilla and 

 intermaxillfe, is broad for a whale having such long and slender 

 baleen. 



We await the discovery and the description of the complete 

 Neobalcena with great anxiety. If it is the Sulphur-bottom or 

 Fin-fish it will be even more interesting, as removing that 

 often-mentioned and hitherto undetermined whale from our 

 books. 



The synonyms will therefore run thus : — 



Balcena marginata, Gray, Zool. Erebus & Terror, p. 48, t. 1. f. 1 (baleen 

 only). 



Caperea antipodaritm, Gray, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 202, fig. ; Cat. Seals & 



Whales, p. 101, f. 9 (ear-bone only); part only of Suppl. Cat. 

 Neobalcena marginata, Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1870, v. p. 221, ^-i. 

 p. 155, figs. 1 & 2 ; Suppl. Cat. p. 40, figs. 1 & 2 (skull only). 



I applied the name of C.antipodarum to this species, believing 

 it to be the Black Whale of New Zealand, of which Dr. Dief- 



