WHALES 327 
The colouration is striking, being black and yellowish grey, 
the two being sharply defined. Generally speaking the front 
portion is grey, and the hinder portion black, but the dis- 
position of the colours requires to be more fully described. The 
- grey area extends from the snout to a point in advance of the dorsal 
fin, occupying more than half the depth of the body, but it rises to 
include an area around the pectoral fin, which is black. The 
continuity of the colour on the fore part of the body is interrupted 
by a black cap which extends from the thicker part of the upper 
beak, so as to include the portion against which the tooth rests to 
the blow hole, whence it passes widely round the eye, thence forward 
below, reaching the chin groove as anarrow band. The anal region 
lies in a grey area, and the tip of the tail flukes is yellowish. 
The whale was a male and the following are some of the measure- 
ments taken :— 
Total length, 18 feet 3 inches. 
Girth 11 feet. 
Vertical depth of body 3 feet ro inches. 
Width of tail flukes 4 feet ro inches. 
Snout to blowhole 2 feet 5 inches. 
Width of blowhole 54 inches. 
Blowhole to dorsal fin 8 feet 8 inches. 
Length of dorsal 1 foot 6 inches. 
Height of dorsal 1 foot r inch. 
Dorsal fin to tail 7 feet 8 inches. 
Snout to pectoral fin 514 inches. 
Length of pectoral 2 feet 1} inches. 
Length of eye 1? inches ; depth of eye I inch. 
Snout to throat grooves I foot 3 inches ;_ length of each 
groove 113 inches. 
The blowhole is crescentic with the concavity forward. The 
throat has one pair of grooves which are close together in front, 
but very divergent behind. 
The specimen was cast at the Museum and the coloured cast 
is hung on the south wall of the New Zealand gallery, this illus- 
trates the appearance of a whale as in life, and shows well the 
position of the peculiar teeth in relation to the head (plate LXII.). 
The complete skeleton in the lower gallery and a skull in a bay in 
the same room show the bony characters. From the latter it will 
be seen that the teeth arise from near the middle of the lower jaw, 
erow backwards, and meet over the upper beak so as to very 
materially interfere with its action ; it thus becomes a question as 
to how an animal which can scarcely open its mouth is able to feed. 
At the summit of each tooth will be noticed the small enamel 
tip, the use of which can scarcely be conjectured. 
