590 PROF. J. VON HAAST ON ZIPHIUS NOV^ ZKALAN DliE. [DeC. 4, 



5. Further Notes on Ziphius {Epiodon) novce zealandlcB, von 

 Haast. By Professor Julius von Haast, C.M.G., 

 Ph.D., F.R.S., C.M.Z.S. 



[Eeceived November 20, 1883.] 



In a paper submitted to the Society on April 6, 1880 (see 

 P. Z. S. 1880, p. 232), I gave a description of a female of this in- 

 teresting Goose-beaked Whale, together with a drawing, showing that 

 numerous attacks had been made upon it, by which the skin had 

 become covered with a large number of oval and seamed scars. At 

 the same time I pointed out that the teeth of the females, in aged 

 individuals disappearing altogether below the gums, were generally 

 covered with a rugose cement to the very tips, and that they could 

 therefore not be well used for the purpose of attack and defence. 

 Consequently I supposed that the scars were due to tlie attacks of 

 the males, of which, at that time, no specimen had been secured. 



Fig. 1. 



Lower jaw of Ziphius novce zealandice, side view ; one third natural size. 



However, to confirm such a supposition I drew attention to the 

 fact that several skulls had been obtained in which the teeth were 

 not only much larger and heavier (according to Dr. Hector 817 and 

 836 grains against 62 to 202 grains, the weight of the female teeth), 

 but moreover were worn down into two lateral facets divided by 

 an acute ridge, so that they had evidently been used. These skulls 

 naturally were considered to have belonged to males. 



On the 13th of June of this year, the news reached me that a 

 Whale had been stranded the day before near the mouth of the 

 Ashley, and though, when reaching the locality, the carcase had 

 already been partly cut into to obtain the blubber, there was a suffi- 



