Gray.-—New Zealand Cetaceans. | 93 
Авт. XVIIL— Notes on Dr. Hectors Paper on the Whales and Dolphins of 
the New Zealand Seas.* 
By J. E. Gray, Ph.D., F.R.S., Hon.Mem.N.Z. Inst. 
[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 6th August, 1873.] 
Tuis paper contains many most valuable observations, and adds considerably to 
our former knowledge of the Cetacea of the southern regions, as shown in the 
appended list. It is very interesting as confirming the existence of the genera 
` Grampus and Beluga in the Southern or Antarctic seas. It is accompanied by 
tracings of the skull of Zpiodon chathamiensis, of the lower jaw of Mesoplodon 
layardi, the ear-bones (represented half the natural size) of Neobalena 
marginata, Megaptera?, Berardius arnouxi, and B. hectori. 
1. Neobalena marginata. 
The discovery that the baleen named Bildes. marginata, and that the ear 
bones upon which I first established the genus Caperea, belong to this whale, 
is entirely due to Dr. Hector, and I gladly accept the correction, although it 
has always appeared to me that the baleen is very narrow and long for a 
whale with such a broad upper jaw, compared with that of the Northern Right 
Whale; but that may be a peculiarity of the group. The combination of 
the characters thus brought together indicates an entirely new group of 
whales, which I propose to call Veobalenide. The form of the skull and ear 
bones is peculiar, and very different from that of any known group of Cetacea, 
and I have always found that the characters derived from these parts are 
connected with peculiar modifications of the external form. The removal of 
the ear-bone of Veobalena from the family Balenide, makes the character 
from that bone in that family as uniform as it is in the other families of 
Balenoidea. The form and structure of the whalebone is finer, but very 
similar to that of the Greenland Right Whale, and shows an affinity of 
this family to the Balenide, but the structure of the head is more like that 
of Physalide, as far as we can judge from the figure, never having had an 
opportunity of seeing the skull itself. The dilated character of the lower 
jaw is peculiar, and, no doubt, characteristic. The face, or rather the 
maxille and intermaxille, are broad for a whale having such long and slender 
baleen. 
We await the discovery and description of the complete Veobalena with 
great anxiety. If it is the Sulphur-bottom, or Fin-fish, it will be even more 
interesting, as removing that often mentioned, and hitherto undetermined, 
whale from our books. 
* The paper referred to appeared in the Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. x Feb., 1873, 
and has since been incorporated with Art. XIX., Vol. V., Trans. N.Z. Ins 
