168 Transactions. —Zoology. 
crests, separated by a notch, the nasal bones being feebly developed ; the 
maxillaries commence at the sides at some distance from the tip of the beak, 
but expand behind into a slightly concave surface that covers the whole of the 
frontal area ; the supra-occipital is convex ; blow-holes are straight, almost 
equally developed, and vertical; the skull being only very slightly unsym- 
metrical ; lower jaw expanded and convex behind, produced and slender in 
front, united by a symphysis equal to one-third the total length of the bone, 
and which is slightly ascending ; the teeth are deeply implanted in the top of 
the jaw, and were completely inclosed in the gums, so as only to be discovered 
by dissection ; they are small, quite compressed, of oblique triangular shape, 
rough at the base, but with a sharp polished tip. Their weight is about 
forty grains each. 
A. Skull (for dimensions, see Trans. N.Z. Inst., TI., 27), cervical vertebra, 
scapulæ, hyoid and pectoral bones of a specimen cast ashore in Taitai Bay near 
Porirua. Total length, 9 feet 3 inches. Collected by Dr. Knox. This skull 
was at first taken for a young Berardius on account of the deep groove along 
the beak. 
Two teeth of the same shape have been obtained, the one in New Zealand, 
the other in the Chatham Islands, which are of much larger size, weighing 
over 200 grains. This circumstance, and the very spongy character of the 
bones, and the imperfect ossification of the sutures, lead to the belief that the 
above described specimen was only a young individual, and that this whale 
reaches a much larger size. A second skull, with part of the beak broken off, 
has since been found in a sandy deposit, some distance from the sea, near 
Wanganui. It agrees exactly in size and form with the foregoing. 
B. The skull of an adult in the Canterbury Museum, picked up on the 
Kaiapoi beach, has the same general form. but is one-fourth larger, and is 
slightly different in its proportion, the beak being more slender at the notch. 
The groove along the upper surface of the beak is completely obliterated, and 
converted into a dense callous ridge, with a depressed channel on each side. 
The sutures of the skull have also been completely ossified, and the bone has 
lost the spongy texture that characterizes the two first specimens described. 
The following are the measurements of the skull in the Canterbury - 
Museum :— 
Inches. 
Total length ... wee we ions ite veel Ok 
Length of beak ss iss via wt ae 
Width at orbits a a z a eee 
Height of occiput T sr r A s 105 
Width of blow-hole ... a vs “te ane 
Skull symmetrical. Lower jaw wanting. 
