350 Miscellaneous. 
vpn it appears evident that this whale is the Berardius 
Arnuzii of Duvernoy, of which a specimen was caught in 1846, in 
Akaroa purwin 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 
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 Duvernoy in the 
‘Annales des Sciences Naturelles 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 be- 
long to the same speeies. 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 
Gerrard Krefft, F.L.S., 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 osteologic 'al —— which are arai in many respects. 
The specimen in our p ion was evidently a young animal, 
because all the disk- nee pa of the vertes are still detached. 
The same is the case with the epiphyses of the limb-bones, which 
are not yet united pb them; also the sutures of the cranium are 
not yet obliterated. The beginning of coalescence is, however, to 
be observed in the seven cervical vertebrae, of which the first pres 
are already sic eig the first two completely, and the second and 
third only partially, as the neural arches and transverse processes 
has six cervical vertebra separate; and it will therefore be necessary 
to examine very carefully into the character of the uncoalesced ver- ` 
Ty 
tebre of our skeleton before giving a dm opinion upon the sub- 
ject. It possesses ten dorsal vertebre common with Ziphius 
sowerbiensis ; the Hyperoodont whales dim punt and the dolphins 
fifteen. T have not yet been able to count and examine 
the lumbar and caudal vertebræ, 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 ihera at once to macerate. We obtained only one of the sm 
pelvie bones, the other having = been washed away by the 
surf; it might, however, owing to its diminutive size and sticking 
loosely i in the flesh, easily have been overlooked, As soon as the 
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