[ 241 ] 



XII. On a Specimen of Ziphius recently obtained near Dunedin. By John H. Scott, 

 M.B., F.B.S.E., and T. Jeffery Parker, B.Sc, C.M.Z.S., Professors in the 

 University of Otago, New Zealand. 



Received March 2nd, 1887, read April 5th, 1887. 



[Plates XLVIII.-L ] 



IHE specimen upon which the following scattered observations were made came 

 ashore alive at Warrington, about twenty miles north of Dunedin, New Zealand, on 

 November 6th, 1884, and was killed by a settler in the locality. We were informed 

 of the circumstance on the following day, and on the 8th made as careful an exami- 

 nation as time and circumstances would permit, leaving the taxidermist of the Otago 

 University Museum to secure the skeleton and such of the internal organs as it was 

 thought desirable to preserve. 



1. External Characters. 

 The specimen was a young female about 16 feet long, and was in excellent preserva- 

 tion, having hardly any wounds or other injuries, except the stab under the throat by 

 which it was killed. When opened, the central part of the carcass was found to be 

 still warm, although death had taken place fully forty-eight hours previously. The 

 skin showed not a trace of the seams and scars which were so marked a feature in all 

 the individuals described and figured by von Haast', the whole surface being quite 

 smooth. 



The following measurements were taken before beginning the dissection : — 

 Total length from anterior end of upper jaw along cm. ft. in. 



the back to middle of caudal fin 485 15 11 



From anterior end of upper jaw to blow-hole . . 61 2 



Width of blow-hole 14 5-5 



From anterior end of lower jaw to angle of mouth. 29 11-5 



From middle ventral line to eye 44 5 1 5'5 



From angle of mouth to centre of eye .... o4'5 1 1-5 



Antero-posterior diameter of eye o'l 1-25 



From centre of eye to auditory aperture .... 14 5'5 



From anterior end of lower jaw to axilla .... 27 42 



' " Notes on Zipliiiis {Ejjiodon) novcE-zealnndice," ¥on Haast, Trans. N. Z. Inst. sii. (1870) p. 241 ; and I'ruc. 

 Zool. Soc. 1880, p. 232, and 1883, p. 590. 



VOL. XII. — PART viii. No. 1. — February, 1889. 2o 



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