PROFESSOR FLOWER ON THE RECENT ZIPHIOID WHALES. 215 
“I may here observe that, from the form of the skull and some other characteristics, it appears evident that 
this whale is the Berardiys arnuxii of Duvernoy, of which a specimen was caught in 1846, in Akaroa harbour, 
the skull of which, of the length of four feet, is at present in the Imperial Museum in Paris. The animal to 
which it belonged is described as having been 32 feet long, and possessing a large dorsal fin, with a large boss 
or hump in front of it. As putrefaction and the cutting off of the blubber had greatly changed the outlines of 
the animal, I could not observe whether it possessed the larger boss in front, Mr. Walker did not speak of it 
when he gave me a description of the animal as it appeared when captured. However, as the figure of the 
skull, as given by Duyernoy in the ‘Annales des Sciences N aturelles,’ and copied into Dr. Gray’s British- 
Museum ‘Catalogue of Seals and Whales,’ is identical with that of our own specimen, I do not hesitate to state 
that both belong to the same species. It also seems to me that this whale is very local, probably inhabiting 
only the coast of New Zealand, and perhaps the regions south of it, because, as far as I can find, it has never 
been observed elsewhere. It has without doubt not been met with on the coasts of Australia (or it would not 
have passed unnoticed), as, amongst others, the energetic director of the Australian Museum, Gerard Krefft, 
F.LS., has not observed it. I may here state that the form of the skull is very peculiar, reminding one 
strongly of that of a dolphin. 
“There seems to be nothing known of this peculiar whale, except its external appearance and its skull; and 
it is therefore a matter of congratulation to us that we shall be able to supply all the details of its osteological 
characteristics, which are peculiar in many respects. 
«The specimen in our possession was evidently a young animal, because all the disk-like epiphyses of the 
vertebre are still detached. The same is the case with the epiphyses of the limb-bones, which are not yet 
united with them ; also the sutures of the cranium are not yet obliterated. The beginning of coalescence is, 
however, to be observed in the seven cervical vertebra, of which the first three are already anchylosed, the first 
two completely, and the second and third only partially, as the neural arches and transverse processes are not 
yet united into one bone. In the allied Hyperoodon all the cervical vertebrae coalesce ; and it is therefore 
possible that when Berardius is in an adult state the same will take place. The Ziphius has six cervical 
yertebre separate; and it will therefore be necessary to examine very carefully into the character of the 
uncoalesced vertebrie of our skeleton before giving a decided opinion upon the subject. It possesses ten dorsal 
vertebra, in common with Ziphius sowerbiensis; the Hyperoodont Whales haye nine, and the Dolphins thirteen 
to fifteen. I have not yet been able to count and examine the lumbar and caudal vertebr, as the animal was 
in such a state of putrefaction that, after cleaning the bones as well as possible and leaving often a great 
portion of the vertebral column together, we put them at once to macerate. We obtained only one of the 
small pelvic bones, the other haying probably been washed away by the surf; it might, however, owing to its 
diminutive size and sticking loosely in the flesh,-easily have been overlooked. As soon as the bones are clean, 
so that I can examine them, I shall offer a few more observations upon the osteology of this remarkable 
animal, for the complete skeleton of which the Canterbury Museum is indebted to the members of the Philo- 
sophical Institute, without whose pecuniary assistance I should have been unable to secure it for the 
Provincial collections.” —Proc. Phil. Institute of Canterbury, New Zealand, May 5, 1869; also Annals and 
Magazine of Nat. History, October 1870, p. 348. 
It is much to be regretted that no mention is made in this account of the sex of the 
animal, especially as some of the allied forms are supposed to present considerable 
sexual differences. 
4. In January, 1870, a large Ziphioid Whale was stranded in Worser’s Bay, near the 
entrance to Port Nicholson, and was captured. Its dimensions are thus given by 
Mr. Knox :— 
