THE CETACEA OF THE NEW ZEALAND oSEAS. 557 



28. A Review of the Cetacea of the New Zealand Seas. — I. 

 By W. E. B. Oliver, F.L.S., F.Z.S., Dominion Museum, 

 Wellington, N.Z. 



[Received May 18, 1922 : Read June 13, 1922.] 



(Plates I.-IY.*) 



Except the popular accounts by Waite, and by Hutton and 

 Drummond, no general list of the New Zealand Cetacea has been 

 published since Hector's paper on the Delphinidse in 1887. 

 Having a number of notes made on various occasions to put on 

 record, I take the opportunity of reviewing the Whales and 

 Dolphins of our seas. The' recorded knowledge of the group is 

 very incomplete ; and, moreover, some errors are apparent. The 

 museums at Wellington and Christchurch contain a fair number of 

 skeletons • those of Dunedin and Wanganui fewer. The only repre- 

 sentatives of the Cetacea in the Auckland Museum appear to be 

 three skulls. The specimens in Christchurch and Dunedin have, in 

 the main, been recorded, but in W^ellington and Wanganui there 

 are some skeletons of considerable interest which have not hitherto 

 been described. These are mentioned in the present paper. 

 Besides cataloguing the specimens in the principal museums in 

 New Zealand, I have included those specimens from New Zealand 

 that I have been able to trace in the museums of Australia, 

 America, and Europe. Many of these I have examined. The 

 short descriptions given with the lists refer mainly to variable 

 characters ; and, where I myself have not examined the specimen, 

 the author from whom I have quoted is given. An attempt has 

 also been made to give the generic and specific names in 

 accordance with the International E-ules of Zoological Nomen- 

 clatvu^e. The litei'ature on the Cetacea is very extensive, but 

 some of it has to be used with caution. This applies to many of 

 the writings of Dr. J. E. Gray, who unfortunately gave new- 

 names on quite inisufficient grounds, sometimes founding genera 

 and species on drawings and photographs he appeared not to 

 understand. I have quoted only the principal references, 

 including those where new names are pi'oposed or where there 

 are descriptions based on specimens. 



I cannot claim, to have added a single species to the list of 

 New Zealand cetaceans ; on the contrary, I have omitted two, 

 Delphmapte7~us leucas and Hyperoodon planifrons, and hope that 

 the evidence that neither belongs to our fauna will be accepted. 



It will appear from the following account that there is much to 

 be learned about the distribution and habits of the cetaceans of 

 our seas ; moreover, collection of perfect skeletons and descriptions 

 of the external characters of the animals is much to be desired. 

 In some cases the species are only known from skulls or skeletons. 



* For explanation of the Plates, see p. 585. 



