PROFESSOR FLOWER ON THE RECENT ZIPHIOID WHALES. 213 



In the great work on the osteology of the Cetacea in the course of publication by 

 Van Beneden and Gervais, figures on a larger scale are given of several views of the 

 same skull (pi. 23), but the description has not yet appeared. 



Until the arrival of the subject of the present communication the Paris skull was the 

 only portion of Serardim contained in any European museum. The length of the 

 cranium is 55 inches. 



2. The next indication of the existence of Berardius is thus recorded by Mr. F. J, 

 Knox : — 



" In January 1862, a male specimen was embayed in the Porirua harbour, and was 

 captured by Mr. London, of which I was only able to make a rude sketch and take a 

 few of the measurements." 



The following are the dimensions given : — 



ft. in. 



"Total length 27 



Greatest circumference 140 



Tail, from tip to tip 7 



Head. — Length of basal surface 4 4 



Height 2 2 



Breadth across occiput 2 



Length of lower jaw 3 10 



Length of pectoral extremity, free 3 



" Produce of fine sperm oil, about 240 gallons ; spermaceti, a considerable quantity 

 in the upper surface of the face " '. 



Except a statement that in the recent state no vestige of teeth could be discovered, 

 no further description and no preparations were obtained from this specimen, which 

 can only be conjectured to be a Berardius from its locality and size. The extremely 

 slight sketch (pi. xiii. fig. 1) of the outline of this animal shows only the characters 

 common to the Ziphioid Whales, except that the pectoral fin is unusually long and 

 pointed. This, however, con-esponds neither with Mr. Knox's measurements nor with 

 the form of the manus of the present skeleton^. 



3. No animal of the species was again observed until the subject which aflPorded the 

 skeleton to be described in the present memoir was stranded, of which event the fol- 

 lowing account was given by Dr. Julius Haast, F.R.S., the eminent geologist and 

 energetic curator of the Museum at Christchurch, Canterbury. As our knowledge of 

 this rare animal is so scanty, I think it desirable to reproduce Dr. Haast's notice 

 entire : — 



' TransactionB and Proceedings of the New-Zealand Institute, 1870, vol. iii. p. 126. 



^ It may be noticed that further doubt is thrown on the accuracy of this sketch by its being attributed in 

 the letterpress to two quite different animals, viz. the 27-feet long Berardius, taken in 1862 iu Porirua 

 Harbour (p. 126), and the 9-feet long Mesoplodon, taken in 1866 m Titai Bay (p. 125). 



2l2 



