478 DR. J. V. HAAST ON MESOPLODON FLOWERI. [Julie 6j 



Z. chathamiensis (Hector) from the same seas*. Indeed, so far as 

 can be judged from the description and photographs, the two speci- 

 mens attributed to the former differ more from each other than does 

 either of them from Z. chathamiensis, especially if, as Dr. v. Haast 

 himself sugs-ests, the difference in the size of the teeth is a sexual 



Do ' 



character. 



3. The photographs sent by Dr. v. Haast of Z. nov(p-zealandi(e, 

 when compared with the specimen of Z. indicus, Van Beneden (Pe- 

 trorhynchus capensis, Gray), at the British Museum, do not show 

 any greater differences than are consistent with the range of indi- 

 vidual variation. 



4. The differences between the last-named species, or supposed 

 species, and Z. cavirostris, Cuvier, and Z. aiistralis, Burmeister, have 

 never been clearly defined ; no proof has therefore yet been given of 

 the existence of more than one species of the genus. 



5. Dr. v. Haast's specimen differs from all other known skeletons 

 in having but nine ribs instead of ten. But it is not improbable 

 that the last pair (often rudimentary and unattached to the vertebral 

 column) may have been lost during the preparation. This appears 

 more likely, because the ninth rib (as shown in the photograph) is 

 larger than the last rib usually is in these animals, and the trans- 

 verse process of the supposed first lumbar vertebra appears some- 

 what dilated at the end. Moreover the presence of one pair of ribs 

 more or less is often only an individual character in the Cetaceans. 



6. A more serious difference consists in the absence of the dorsal 

 fin (hitherto met with in all members of the genus examined); but 

 it must be noted that this is not Dr. v. Haast's own observation, and 

 was made after "nearly all the blubber had been taken off." 



3. Notes on Mesoplodon floweri. By Julius von Haast, 

 Ph.D., F.R.S, Director of the Canterbury Museum, New 

 Zealand. 



[Eeceived May 5, 1876.] 



(Plates XLV. & XLVI.) 



In the beginning of April 1874, the information reached me that 

 a Whale about 18 feet long had been stranded on the sea-beach near 

 Saltwater creek, about 30 miles north of Banks Peninsula ; and 

 although I did not lose any time in securing the skeleton for the 

 Canterbury Museum, I was too late to obtain the necessary infor- 

 mation as to form, colour, position of tins, etc., the animal having 

 in the mean time been stripped in order to obtain the blubber. 



Fortunately, however, no bone was lost ; and on examination the 

 animal proved to be a Mesoplodon, closely allied to a specimen ob- 

 tained at the Cape of Good Hope, of which the skull has been 

 described and figured by Dr. Gray, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 358, and subse- 



* Trans. New-Zealand Institute, vol. v. p. 104, pi. iv. (1873). 



