4 Transactions. — Zoology. 



The whale, as I am informed by Mr. J. E. Gully, was stranded on the 

 sands at the entrance of the Waimea Biver, Nelson. It was boiled down, 

 and the skeleton and baleen passed into the possession of Captain Barry, 

 who unfortunately was not sufficiently aware of the value of a complete 

 whale's skeleton to give the proper amount of care to the preservation of 

 the smaller bones. The eight (?) posterior caudal vertebrae were thrown 

 away with the " flukes ;" the anterior epiphysis of the fifth cervical vertebra 

 is missing ; many of the phalanges and some of the carpals are lost ; and 

 no trace of either pelvic bone reached Dunedin.* 



The rest of the skeleton is quite perfect and in excellent condition. The 

 small fifteenth rib is present on both sides, as well as the lacrymal and the 

 malar. The hyoidean apparatus is complete, and the number of chevron 

 bones (13) agrees with Van Beneden and Gervais's figure of B. musculus, 

 although from the description of that species in the " Osteographie des 

 Cetaces " it seems probable that these were followed by three others in the 

 cartilaginous condition. 



The skeleton is in the stage defined by Flower f as " young," that is, all 

 the epiphyses both of the vertebras and of the arm bones are separate. The 

 bones of the skull also shrunk away from one another a good deal in the 

 course of drying, so that it was found impossible to bring them into con- 

 tact. This is especially the case with the maxillae and the orbital processes of 

 the frontals, between which there is a gap of about two inches. The 

 premaxillae and maxillae were both separated during the preparation of the 

 skull, as well as the lacryrnals and jugals. 



The entire length of the skeleton, as mounted, is 53 feet 6 inches, 

 measured in a straight line. This includes eight restored vertebrae at the 

 end of the caudal region, as well as the pads of felt representing inter- 

 vertebral ligaments : the latter vary from J to f- inch in thickness in 

 different parts of the vertebral column. 



This size appears to be somewhat remarkable for so young a specimen. 

 Flower states that whales grow to more than half the size of the adult while 

 still in the " young" stage, but it is certainly interesting to find a length of 

 over 54 feet attained in the young stage of a species which appears never to 

 exceed 80 feet, and in which the fully adult condition of the skeleton may 

 be reached in specimens of 70 and even 60 feet long. 



The following measurements are taken to correspond pretty nearly with 

 those given by Flower J and by Murie,|] and will help to show the close 



* I am much indebted to Mr. J. E. Gully for having instituted a search for the missing 

 bones, but unluckily his efforts met with no success. 



t " Notes on the Skeletons of Whales in the Principal Museums of Holland and 

 Belgium, etc.," Proc. Zool. Soc, 1864, p. 384. 



J P.Z.S., 1864, p. 399, etc. 



|| "On the Anatomy of a Fin^whale captured near Gravesends" Proc. Zool. Soc.j 

 1865, p. 206, 



