Haasr.— Notes on Mesoplodon floweri. 448 
Society of London, under the title of Z iphius ( Dolichodon layardi) *, Gray, 
As far as I am aware, nothing is known of that interesting animal, 
except the skull, with the lower jaw, between which and the New Zealand 
specimen under review, there exist some points of difference, as I shall 
point out further on; moreover, as I believe that the same species of 
Ziphioid Whale would scarcely exist in two regions so far distant from each 
other, I have thought it more expedient to designate the New Zealand 
species by the specific distinction of M. floweri, in honour of the accom. 
plished anatomist, Professor W. H. Flower, F.R.S., to whom the New 
Zealand naturalists owe a great debt of gratitude for his excellent memoir 
on Berardius arnuwii. 
The animal proved on dissection to be a full-grown male, and of mature 
age, the terminal epiphyses of the body of the vertebra being so thoroughly 
anchylosed, that the line of junction could not be detected, and we can 
draw the conclusion, from its osteological characteristics, that it must have 
combined considerable strength with great swiftness, whilst at the same 
time the large and remarkable strap-like teeth must have given it a 
peculiar appearance. The skeleton (Pl. XXV., Fig. 2) as now mounted has a 
total length of 17 feet 9 inches, which closely corresponds with the measure- 
ment given to me, and taken before the flesh was removed from the skeleton. 
The skull (Pl. XXVL, Fig. 2) resembles in all its general features 
so closely the skull of M. layardi, as described by Professor Owen, that 
it would be superfluous to offer any detailed account of it. Amongst 
other peculiarities, the prefrontals have also the rami well defined form, 
and appear as a dense convex ridge between the premaxillaries, as in the 
Cape specimen. Notwithstanding this general likeness, if we compare 
closely the figures of both skulls, it is nevertheless apparent that there 
exist some differences between them, of which I wish to point out the fol- 
lowing :— 
The frontals in the Cape specimen rise higher above the maxil- 
laries than in the New Zealand specimen, and the occipital portion of the 
skull is far more rounded in the former than in the latter, in which the 
supra-occipital stands nearly vertical, whilst in the Cape specimen this 
portion of the skull has a considerable slope towards the foramen magnum. 
At the junction of the basi-occipital with the temporal, the former enters the 
latter with a sharp angular projection, whilst in the New Zealand specimen 
it has a rounded edge. 
The inter-parietal in the New Zealand specimen runs up to the crest as 
a much narrower bone than in the Cape one, in which it has a rounded form 
near its junction with the frontals. Besides the difference in the mandibu- 
* Pro. Zool. Soc., 1865, p, 353, 
