88 MK. ¥. E. JJEDDAHD ON THE 



sentence to his essay : — " From tlu> cliarricter afforded by the baleen of this specimen I 

 conclude that it is the head of tlie Balcena marginatn, Gray, or West Australian 

 Wliale." 



Tlic skull is figured in three views, and there can of course be no doubt that the 

 identification of Hector was perfectly true. 



In a contribution to the same journal as that from which we have just quoted. 

 Dr. Gray ^ gave some further notes upon Balam marfiinata, establishing it as the type 

 of his new genus Neohnkena. The paper is reprinted from one published in the 



Annals & Magazine of Natural History ' -, and is reproduced in Dr. Gray's full 

 ^cco\mi of Neohalmna in the ' Supplementary Catalogue of Seals and Whales in the 

 British Museum.' 



Dr. Gray had evidently some justification for pointing out that his separation of the 

 whale by the characters of its whalebone have been fully borne out by the characters 

 of the skull as described by subsequent observers. It is doubtful, however, whether 

 this position is strengtliened by his statement that " Physalus antarcticns," also differ- 

 entiated by the characters of its whalebone, has turned out to be a distinct form of 

 Korqual. 



Dr. Gray's definition of the genus, founded upon the skull and the whalebone, was 

 as follows : — 



" Skull rather depressed ; brain-cavity nearly as long as the beak, depressed, much 

 expanded at the sides, with a very deep notch on the middle of each side over the 

 condyles of the lower jaw, and with a subtriangular crown-plate. The nose as broad 

 as the expanded brain-cavity at the base, attenuated to a line point in front and slightly 

 arched downwards. Lower jaw laminar, compressed, high ; the upper edge thin, and 

 inflexed the greater part of its length, erect in front ; the lower edge inflexed in front, 



the rest of the edge being simple. The baleen elongate, slender, several times as long 



as broad, with a fringe of a single series of fine fibres ; enamelled surface smooth and 



polished, thick." 



The skull to which this description refers is that described by Sir J. Hector, and 



was obtained on the island of Kawau near New Zealand. The figures given by Hector 



are reproduced by Gray in his ' Supplementary Catalogue.' It is an incomplete skull 



wanting the end of the snout and the lacrymal bone. 



A few years later another skull was described by Sir James Hector 3 from the 



Auckland Museum. It was that of " a young calf," and measured 2 feet 11 inches. 



The baleen is described as " yellowish white." Hector observes that the whale 



' " l\^otes oil the Skull of Balima marginaia described in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 

 vol. li. p. 21, as the type of a new Genus Neobalcena," Trans. New Zealand Iiist. iii. p. 123. 

 ' 1870, vol. V. p. 221, and vi. p. 155, figs. 1 & 2. 

 ■■ " Notes on New Zealand Whales," Trans. New Zeal. Inst. vii. 1875, p. 251. 



