ZIPHIUS. 



11 



III. ZIPHIUS. (Z.) 



Ziphius, Cuvier, Ossemens fossiles, 1823. 



Colour purple-black on back, white on ventral surface ; 

 one developed tooth on each side of symphysis 

 of mandible ; premaxillae expanded and raised as 

 asymmetrical eminences, bounding bowl-shaped pre- 

 nasal cavity ; medio-rostral bone strong ; conjoined 

 nasals concave forwards, forming summit of cranium ; 

 dorsal fin ; vertebral formula C^Dg or loLn^'^Ui — ^^• 

 Lentfth not exceedinp; 26 feet. 



(1) Ziphius cavirostris, Cuvier. (Z. c.) 



(Cuvier's Ziphius.) 



Epiodon chathamensis, Hector, Trans. JSfeiu Zealand Inst, 

 1873. 



Medio-rostral bone swollen in middle to a thick, dense 

 bar, attenuated at its anterior end. 



1. Skull, adult, with mandible. Length 36|- inches, breadth 

 20 inches, height 18 inches. Medio-rostral bone, 

 length 13 inches, 2^ inches in greatest width, 

 attenuated anteriorly; length of beak 21 1 inches, 

 breadth at base 12 inches; length of ankylosed 

 symphysis 7 inches. The naso-premaxillary and 

 rostral regions very characteristic. Mandible 32^ 

 inches long, teeth absent, sockets occupied by coarse 

 bone. The whale was caught in 1870 off Hamna 

 Voe, Shetland, and the skull was described by Turner 



