8 DR. J. VON HAAST ON A NEW ZIPHIOID WHALE. [Jan. 4 



Unfortunately the skulls were so badly separated from the body 

 that the occipital portion has been cut off, so as to lay the brain-ca- 

 vity open ; but as they were brought over with the greater portion of 

 the skin still attached, some hitherto unknown and, as I think, pecu- 

 liar characteristic features in the dentition of a Ziphioid genus have 

 fortunately been preserved. 



These three skvdls accord in many respects with the genus Mesop- 

 lodon of Gervais, of which I will point out only one, viz. that they 

 possess one tooth in each ramus of the lower jaw opposite the pos- 

 terior edge of the symphysis, and of varying size and shape, either 

 hidden below the gum or rising conspicuously above, according to age 

 and sex. They differ, however, from all known species of the genus 

 by possessing in the upper jaw, starting in a vertical line above the 

 posterior border of the mandibular tooth, a series of small conical 

 teeth slightly incurved, which extends to near the gape of the mouth. 



I may here at once observe that these teeth are neither rudimen- 

 tary nor are they confined to young animals, because, as I shall show 

 in the sequel, these three skulls are derived from individuals of dif- 

 ferent ages, of which oue is an aged (male ?) animal, in which the row 

 of teeth is best developed. It is thus evident that this series of teeth 

 is a functional portion of the animal, and is constant and necessary 

 for its proper nourishment, some of them being broken off, others 

 evidently worn down from use. That these small teeth, of which 

 the largest stands scarcely half an inch above the gums, are only 

 rooted in the gums, does not lessen their value as a specific character 

 of some importance. 



Of the species of Ziphioid Whales inhabiting the New-Zealand 

 seas I have obtained three, namely Berardius arnoiwii (3 specimens), 

 Ziphius novce zealandice, and Mesoplodon floweri (Haast, MS.), none 

 of which shows the least sign or rudiments of teeth in the upper jaw. 

 Moreover several others have been secured in New Zealand and Aus- 

 tralia ; but nowhere can I find that, except the teeth in the lower jaw, 

 they possessed any ; and I have looked carefully over all the different 

 papers on the Ziphioid Whales of the northern hemisphere to which 

 I had access, without finding the slightest mention made of the oc- 

 currence of such a peculiar feature in their dentition. 



On the contrary, Professor Flower in his excellent paper on the 

 recent Ziphioid Whales (Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. viii. part 3), when 

 enumerating their principal structural characters, begins by stating 

 that they have " no functional teeth in the upper jaw." 1 believe 

 that this term functional is rather ambiguous and can scarcely be 

 applied to the genus under consideration, as we are totally un- 

 accpiainted with the food on which it subsists, or the manner in which 

 the same is obtained. 



It is true, these teeth do not grow from alveolar grooves in the 

 rnaxillaries, but only from a groove in the gums, and have their roots 

 implanted therein ; nevertheless I have no doubt that they are 

 always present and do perform as distinct and important functions as 

 those of Kogia or any of the Dolphins which possess teeth of similar 

 form. 



