134 DR. J. E. GRAY ON NEW-ZEALAND WHALES. [Jatl. 21, 



New Zealand by M. Duchange. He does not say from which spe- 

 cimen his figures were taken ; but they are probably from the old 

 and young in Brussels. Neither of the figures represents the ear- 

 bones of either of the two Whales (Caperea antipodarum and 

 Macleayius australiensis)which. we have received from New Zealand. 

 Do the ear-bones figured really come from New Zealand 1 If they 

 do, they indicate the existence of another New-Zealand Right Whale. 



M. van Beneden gives Balana australis, Desmoulins, ' Diction- 

 naire classique d'Histoire Naturelle,' p. 161, as a synonym of the 

 New-Zealand species ; but M. Desmoulins remarks, this species was 

 " observee par de Lalande," who collected it at Algoa Bay. 



Unfortunately there is no other skeleton known of the Balcena 

 antipodarum than that which is in the Paris Museum, which wants 

 the ear-bones on which the genus was founded. I am inclined to 

 think it most probable that the skeleton at Paris does belong to 

 Caperea, because, like the ear-bones which are the type of the genus, 

 the skeleton, from the form of its blade-bone &c, is evidently refer- 

 able to a peculiar group of the Right Whales ; whilst the two kinds 

 of ear-bones figured by M. van Beneden as belonging to that skele- 

 ton are both of the type usually found in the common form of Right 

 Whales. It is to be regretted that the figures of the ear-bones 

 given by M. van Beneden in the work above referred to are not very 

 satisfactory, and do not give the impression that either he or his 

 artist has very carefully studied them ; and one of the great wants 

 of the text of his book is that his descriptions should be more 

 detailed and taken from a single skeleton ; and when he describes a 

 specimen from any other source it should be described separately, as 

 otherwise he is apt to describe the bones of several distinct animals 

 as belonging to one species, as he certainly has done in more than 

 one instance, especially in his Balcena antipodarum and B. biscay- 

 ensis. 



We have received the skeleton of a second species of Right Whale 

 from New Zealand, which was believed by Dr. Haast and the New- 

 Zealand zoologists to be the same as the one described and figured 

 as Caperea antipodarum ; but it is even more like, though quite 

 distinct from, Eubalcena australis (the Cape Right Whale) ; and 

 I now describe it as Macleayius australiensis ; but the discovery of 

 this Whale has thrown doubts on all our previous assumptions ; and 

 the ear- bones figured by M. van Beneden, if they are really from 

 New Zealand, make the determination of the species even more 

 doubtful. 



In these remarks I have taken no notice of the Pigmy Right Whale 

 (Neobalcena marginata), found in New Zealand and West Australia, 

 because that is at once known from all the others by its small size. 



Macleayius australiensis. 



Macleayius australiensis, Gray, Cat. Seals and Whales, p. 105, 

 f. 10 & 1 1, p. 371, f. 74 & 75 (from Krefft's photographs) ; Suppl.Cat. 

 Seals and Whales, p. 46 ; Synopsis of Whales and Dolphins, p. 2. 



Hab. Australian Seas (Kreffi), Coastof New Zealand (Dr. Haast). 



