1876.] DR. J. V. HAAST ON MESOPLODON FLOWERI. 479 



quently by Prof. Owen, in vol. xxiii. of the publications of the Palae- 

 ontographical Society of London, under the title of Ziphius (Doli- 

 chodon, Gray) layardi. 



So far as I am aware, nothing is known of that interesting animal 

 except the skull with the lower jaw, between which and the New- 

 Zealand specimen under review there exist some points of difference, 

 as I shall point out further on ; moreover, as I believe that the same 

 species of Ziphioid Whale would scarcely exist in two regions so far 

 distant from each other, I have thought it more expedient to 

 designate the New-Zealand species by the specific term flotveri, 

 in honour of the accomplished anatomist, Prof. W. II. Flower, F.R.S., 

 to whom the New- Zealand naturalists owe a great debt of gi'atitude 

 for his excellent memoir on Berardius arnouxi. 



The animal proved, on dissection, to be a full-grown male and or 

 mature age, the terminal epiphyses of the bodies of the vertebra?, being 

 so thoroughly ankylosed that the line of junction could not be de- 

 tected ; and we can draw the conclusion from its osteological charac- 

 teristics that it must have combined considerable strength with great 

 swiftness, whilst at the same time the large and remarkable strap-like 

 teeth must have given it a peculiar appearance. 



The skeleton (Plate XLV. fig. 1), as now mounted, has a total 

 length of 1 7 feet 9 inches, which closely corresponds with the mea- 

 surement given to me, and taken before the flesh was removed from 

 the skeleton. 



The skull, of which I add an upper view (Plate XLVI. fig. 1), 

 resembles in all its general features so closely the skulls of M. 

 layardi, as described by Prof. Owen, that it would be superfluous to 

 offer any detailed account of it. 



Amongst otber peculiarities, the frontals have also the same well- 

 defined form, and appear as a dense convex ridge between the pre- 

 maxillaries as in the Cape specimen. 



Notwithstanding this general likeness, if we compare closely the 

 figures of both skulls, it is nevertheless apparent that there exist 

 some differences between them, of which I wish to point out the fol- 

 lowing ones : — 



Thus the frontals in the Cape specimen rise higher above the 

 maxillaries than in the New-Zealand specimen ; and the occipital 

 portion of the skull is far more rounded in the former than in the 

 latter, in which the supra-occipital stands nearly vertical, whilst in 

 the Cape specimen this portion of the skull has a considerable slope 

 towards the foramen magnum. At the junction of the basioccipital 

 with the temporal, the former enters the latter with a sharp angular 

 projection, whilst in the New-Zealand specimen it has a rounded 

 edge. 



The interparietal in the New- Zealand specimen runs up to the 

 crest a much narrower bone than in the Cape one, in which it has 

 a rounded form near its junction with the frontals. 



Besides the difference in the mandibular teeth to be pointed out 

 hereafter, I find that the lower jaw is far deeper in proportion to its 

 length in the New-Zealand specimen. 



32* 



