PROFESSOR FLOWER ON THE RECENT ZIPHIOID WHALES. 213 
In the great work on the osteology of the Cetacea in the course of publication by 
Van Beneden and Gervais, figures on a larger scale are given of several views of the 
same skull (pl. 23), but the description has not yet appeared. 
Until the arrival of the subject of the present communication the Paris skull was the 
only portion of Berardius contained in any European museum. The length of the 
cranium is 55 inches. 
2. The next indication of the existence of Berardius is thus recorded by Mr. F. J, 
Knox :— 
“In January 1862, a male specimen was embayed in the Porirua harbour, and was 
captured by Mr. London, of which I was only able to make a rude sketch and take a 
few of the measurements.” 
The following are the dimensions given :— 
Eta 
eiaienetie ee ee ees a TO 
(ec aieae CinCHIMseLenCe, oo eg ts ie pe D) 
Tail, from tip to tip . . Fall Eo wack Rives aliilte  ntduileasl, 
Head.—Length of basal mittee A A Sem Athans sl en eed Ue 
Git ee eee eS Poy ce. alte ee 
breadth across occiput. = 75 3. 4 = 4 2 0 
Pao Of MOWern AW, (0h. se fel Lessp sles oo Ate aah 
Leneth of pectoralextzemity, free . . . - « eo» 3 0 
“Produce of fine sperm oi], about 240 gallons; spermaceti, a considerable quantity 
in the upper surface of the face”’. 
Except a statement that in the recent state no vestige of teeth could be discovered, 
no further description and no preparations were obtained from this specimen, which 
can only be conjectured to be a Berardius from its locality and size. The extremely 
slight sketch (pl. xiii. fig. 1) of the outline of this animal shows only the characters 
common to the Ziphioid Whales, except that the pectoral fin is unusually long and 
pointed. This, however, corresponds neither with Mr. Knox’s measurements nor with 
the form of the manus of the present skeleton’. 
3. No animal of the species was again observed until the subject which afforded the 
skeleton to be described in the present memoir was stranded, of which event the fol- 
lowing account was given by Dr. Julius Haast, F.R.S., the eminent geologist and 
energetic curator of the Museum at Christchurch, Canterbury. As our knowledge of 
this rare animal is so scanty, I think it desirable to reproduce Dr. Haast’s notice 
entire :— 
1 Transactions and Proceedings of the New-Zealand Institute, 1870, vol. iii. p. 126. 
? It may be noticed that further doubt is thrown on the accuracy of this sketch by its being attributed in 
the letterpress to two quite different animals, viz. the 27-feet long Berardius, taken in 1862 in Porirua 
Harbour (p. 126), and the 9-feet long Mesoplodon, taken in 1866 in Titai Bay (p. 125). 
212 
