Parker. — Notes on Balamoptera musculus ? 11 



The foregoing observations show that the present specimen agrees with 

 Balanoptera musculus in every essential respect except the characters of the 

 nasals and of the sternum. Without knowing anything of the external 

 characters I think it would be extremely injudicious to consider the 

 peculiarities of these bones as having anything more than a varietal im- 

 portance. Indeed one would have no hesitation in definitely referring the 

 Nelson skeleton to the same species as the common Korqual of the 

 northern hemisphere, but for the fact that considerable confusion seems to 

 exist as to the external characters of the Southern Fin-whales. 



In a recent article* Professor Flower remarks : " There are certainly 

 four quite distinct modifications of this genus [Balamoptera] , represented by 

 the two just mentioned [B. sibbaldii and B. rostrata] , and by B. musculus 

 and B. borealis, all inhabitants of British seas; but the question whether 

 almost identical forms found in the Southern or Pacific Oceans are to be 

 regarded as specifically identical or as distinct, awaits the result of future 

 researches." 



Grayf describes a species, Physalus? (Balanoptera) australis, Desmou- 

 lins, distinguished by having the dorsal fin over the male organ as in 

 Meyaptera. The same author} admits a species, Ph. antarcticus, founded 

 entirely upon some yellowish-white baleen imported to England from New 

 Zealand. 



Hector|| calls the Port Underwood skeleton Physalus australis in the text 

 of his paper, while in the description of plates it is referred to as Ph. 

 antarcticus. Taking into consideration that it is an adult skeleton, it agrees 

 in all essential respects with the Nelson specimen, at least as far as I can 

 judge from the brief description, except in the form of the sternum, which, 

 as stated above, is broader than long. 



It was upon the Port Underwood skeleton that Gray§ founded his new 

 genus and species Stenobalcena xanthogaster " peculiar for the shortness of its 

 pectoral fins, its plaited belly, and low recurved and pointed fin placed over 

 the vent, and very peculiar among all whalebone-whales for the form of its 

 bladebone." As a matter of fact, I find on referring to Hector's paper that 

 the pectoral fin was only a little less than one-eighth the total length of the 

 body (body 70 feet, bones of fore-limb 8 feet 6 inches), which appears to be 

 the usual proportion for B. musculus: the plaited ventral surface also obtains 

 in that species, in which, further, the dorsal fin is over the vent. As for 

 the scapula, all Dr. Gray had to depend on was an extremely rough sketch 

 taken from the fresh bone before the cartilage was removed, and apparently 



* Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9 ed., vol. xv., art. Mammalia. \ Loc. cit., p. 164. 

 t Catalogue of Seals and Whales, p. 161. || Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. vii., p. 251. 

 § Note to paper by Hector, Ann. and Mag. N.H., 4 ser., vol, xiv., 1874, p. 304. 



