244 Transactions.— Zoology. 
also that they could not have been caused by the animal being thrown 
amongst the rocks; but must have been inflicted by some other animal. 
Examining the oval spots, I found that, although they varied from a 
length of 2 inches, to that of 8 inches, and from a breadth of 1 inch, to that 
of 2 inches, they had invariably the same character, viz.: that of an oval 
sear of a dirty whitish colour, both in the white and the black colouration 
of the skin, with two well-marked points in the centre, always about 11-13 
inches apart. These two dots had evidently been the wounds inflicted, 
round which the scar had been formed. In some instances these points 
were quite healed over, so as to show that the injury had been done long 
ago; in others there were two fresh sores, as if the animal had been struck 
only a few hours before its death. Although occurring all over the body, 
with the exception of the back, these oval scars were most frequent below 
the belly, and principally round the pudendum, where they were often so 
close together that the scars not only ran into each other, but evidently 
covered each other, so as to show that the same spot had been struck re- 
peatedly. The seamed scars, on the other hand, occurred more on both 
sides of the animal. Only a few crossed the back or reached to the belly. 
With a few exceptions these seamed scars were always in pairs, 14-1} 
inches apart, and each about i inch broad. Some of them were running 
for a considerable distance, 7-8 feet, others only for a space of a few inches. 
That there had been considerable struggle became evident from the direction 
these seamed scars had taken, some forming, as at a, regular hooks. Some 
of these wounds were evidently of long standing, being well healed, others 
had only been inflicted a very short time before the stranding of the animal, 
as they were quite fresh and deep, and sometimes have a breadth of 3 of 
an inch. From the character of these wounds, it appears certain that they 
could have only been made by an animal or animals of the same species 
with the two teeth of the lower jaw, the distance of their apices being 11-14 
inches from each other, and thus corresponding with both the oval and 
seamed scars. The aged female from the Kaiapoi beach, of which I gave 
some particulars on the preceding pages, was scarred and seamed in exactly the 
same manner. Itis thus evident that the females are subject to attacks either 
from the males during rutting time, or that they fight amongst themselves. 
In the latter case, which, however, appears to me to be rather improbable, 
the teeth of the figured specimen must have been of considerable use to the 
animal, and it is then difficult to understand how the full-grown or aged 
animals, when their teeth disappear below the gums, can successfully resist 
the attacks of the younger members of the same species, unless their greater 
bulk, or probably greater speed, make up for this disadvantage. Of the 
males of Ziphius nove-zealandie we know nothing at present, but there 
