Hector. — Notes on New Zealand Whales. 



2ol 



Art. XXXY. — Notes on New Zealand Whales. By James Hector, M.D., 

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



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 12th Sept., 1874, and 10th Feb., 1875.] 



NEOBAL^^NA MARQINATA. Gray, Trans. K Z. Inst., Y., 155. 



Plates XVI.— XYIII. 



Among a series of cetacean remains forwarded from the Auckland Museum 

 for determination, I find the skull of a young calf of this species, which, 

 notwithstanding its small size^ presents the same proportions and other 

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

 of the Transactions at page 226. It measures as follows : — 



Feet. Inches. 

 Total length ... ... ... ... ... 2 11 



Greatest width 



Length of beak from nasal bones 



Lower jaw — length 



„ vertical width 



„ width at middle 



Baleen — width 

 length 



5> 



1 



4-5 



1 



4-5 



2 



4 







4 







4 







2 



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. 



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 appears 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 

 (Balcena [Agaphilus] gibhosa, Gray 1) 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 by Cope (Gray, Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales, 1871, p. 47.) 



* Trans. N. Z. Inst. , V. , pi. vi. , 3a and b. In the letterpress the references are let 

 and b, the figures having been transposed. 



