Hector. — Notes on New Zealand Whales. 



251 



Art. 



•Notes on New 



Zealand Wlmles. By James Hector 

 F.R.S., Director of the Geological Survey of New Zealand. 



[Read before the Well'* nylon Philosophical Society, Villi Sept., 1871. and 10th Ftb. t 1875.] 



NEOBAI^ENA MARGIN ATA. day, Trans. N. Z. In.t,, V., 168. 



Plates XVI. —XVII r. 



Among a series of cetacean remains forwarded from the Auckland Museum 



notwithstanding its small 



species 



size, presents the same proportions and 



characters as the type specimen, the dimensions of which are given in Vol. II. 

 of the Transactions at page 22G. It measures as follows : 







Feet. 



Inches. 



Total length ... 



• • 



2 



11 



Greatest width 



• • 4 



1 



4-5 



Length of beak from nasal bones . . . 



• • « 



1 



4-5 



Lower j aw — length 



« a • 



2 



4 



„ vertical width 



• ■ < 







4 



„ width at middle 



■ • | 







4 



Baleen — width 



• 1 i 







2 



„ length 



• • ■ 



1 







The beak is slender, pointed and arched, the 



maxillaries being 



very 



narrow in front, and covered by the inter-maxillaries, which are rounded, and 

 form an elevated ridge that projects two inches beyond the maxillaries. 



9 



The baleen is yellowish-white, with a narrow brown margin and yellow 

 hair. 



The ear-bones agree both in character and size with the type specimen, 

 notwithstanding the great difference in the size of the skulls, but they are 

 not so rough on the external surface,* which is the only indication of the 

 difference in age. 



I have seen during the past year several specimens of the baleen of this 

 whale, but never of larger size than that first described as belonging to the 

 type obtained on the island of Kawau. It appeal's to be found on all parts of 

 the coast, but is described by the whalers as of rare occurrence. One qualified 

 informant, on examining the baleen, said it belonged to the scrag whale 



{Bd 



[Agaphilus] gibbosa, Gray ?) but he may have been misled by the 

 white colour of the baleen. 



The absence of an elevated coronoid process in the lower jaw clearly 

 separates both skulls under consideration from the genus Agaphilus, as 

 described bv Cope (Gray, Supnl. Cat. Seals and Whales. 1871. n. 47. \ 



Trans. N. Z. Inst., V., pi. vi., 3a and 6. In the letterpress the references are la 

 b, the figures having been transposed. 



