OSTEOLOGY OP THE PIGMY WHALE. 89 



" appears to be found on all parts of the coast, but is described by the whalers as of 

 rare occurrence." It was held by one "qualified informant" to be identical with 

 the rather mysterious " Scrag Whale," a creature which has not been satisfactorily 

 identified with any known form. I hope, however, on a future occasion to have the 

 opportunity of saying something about the latter whale, which may be the Grey Whale 

 of California. 



Some little confusion as to possible synonyms of this whale has been introduced by 

 Dr. Gray. In a paper dealing with British Cetacea (the italics are necessary) the 

 author adds some details ^ to his earlier notes ^ on the so-called BaUena [Caperea) 

 antipodanmi. 



These details consist in a description of the tympanic bones of a Baloena identified 

 with that species, which were received from Otago, New Zealand. Nothing is there 

 said of the size of these bones. The figures were subsequently copied into the 

 ' Catalogue of Seals and Whales ' ^, but again without measurements. These ear- 

 bones, however, were regarded as those of a specimen 60 feet long, to which dimensions 

 it does not appear at all likely that Neobalcena marginata ever arrives. Yet in a third 

 reference to this ear-bone, Dr. Gray, though quoting Hector'* to the effect that it 

 belongs to Neobakma, refers to a skeleton in the Paris Museum as wanting the ear- 

 bones and as being that of a Euhakena antipodarum. The coincidence — not verv 

 remarkable — seems hardly worth mentioning, since it was perfectly apparent that there 

 could be no conceivable confusion between the two whales from the investigations of 

 van Beneden and some others who are duly quoted by Gray. 



Having thus entered into the matter of the ear-bone, stated by Hector to be that of 

 H^eobalmna, Dr. Gray unexpectedly observes: "In these remarks I have taken no 

 notice of the Pigmy Right Whale {Neobalcena marginata) found in New Zealand and 

 West Australia, because that is at once known from all the others by its small size." 



On a later page (P. Z. S. 1873, p. 14.3), however, the synonymy is correctly 5 

 given as : 



Heobaloena marginata. Gray, Cat. Seals and Whales, p. 90, &c., &c, 

 Caperea antipodarum. Gray, ibid. p. 101. 



In the paper Avhich has just been quoted, Hector refers to a description, contained 

 in a letter written to him by Mr. Traill, of the external characters of this whale, as he 

 correctly assumed and later on proved it to be. It was captured among a large school of 



' " On the Cetacea which have been observed in the Seas surrounding the British Islands," P. Z. S. 1864 

 p. 195. 



^ Zoology of the ' Erebus ' and ' Terror,' and in Dieffenbach's ' New Zealand,' p. 101. 



' " JSTotice of a Skeleton of the New Zealand Pught Whale, &c.," P. Z. S. 1873, p. 133. 



" Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1873, vol. xi.p. 108. 



■'' Correctly, that is to say, as regards specific name : for on the page of the Catalogue first quoted it is called 

 " Balcma marginata." 



o2 



