3 



)> 



35 



J) 



53-3 



)j 



9 



J5 



Hector. — Notes on New Zealand Whales. 253 



of the length j has a dorsal fin j pectoral fin lanceolate, moderate, and with 



four fingers; scapula elongate, with coracoid and acromion processes. Its 



peculiar characters are the small number of vertebrae, 44 ; the short mandibles 



and remarkably broad straight ribs with feeble vertebral articulations. 



Skeleton. — A general view taken from a photograph by W. T. L. Travers, 



Esq., is given in plate XYI. The total length of the skeleton, making proper 



allowance for intervertebral substance, is 14 feet 6 inches, consisting of: 



Skull ... ... ... ... ... 41 inches. 



Cervical mass of vertebrae 

 17 dorsal vertebrae 

 11 lumbars 

 9 caudal 



making a total of 44 vertebrae, of which the above measurements are given 



without including either apophyses or intervertebral substance. 



The skull resembles exactly in its proportions the original type specimen 

 from Kawau (Trans. N. Z. I., II., p. 26), which is 57 inches in length, and 

 also the skull of the young individual belonging to the Auckland Museum, 

 which is only 34 inches long. In its general form it is triangular, widest 

 behind, gradually contracting in width to over the orbit, then suddenly to 

 opposite the blowhole, and thence tapering gradually to the tip of the beak, 

 which is moderately arched and only slightly longer than the brain-case. The 

 width of the skull behind is 19 inches, at the orbits 18 inches, across the 

 nasals 10 inches, the lower jaw having the usual proportions, being 37 

 inches long by 4*6 wide, with a feeble articulation and no coronoid process. 

 The blow-hole, which is deeply excavated, is directed forwards, forming an 

 oval expansion 4*5 by 3*5 inches ; the nasal bones are oblong and 3 inches 

 long ; intermaxillaries extend beyond the tip of the beak and are 3 inches 

 wide, including half an inch of a groove dividing them ; the occipital foramen 

 is 2 by 1 "5 inch ; condyles triangular and divergent, being beneath rather than 

 lateral to the foramen, which is directed very much upwards when the skull 

 is laid in an horizontal position ; the ear-bones, as already stated, have the 

 perfect characters of the former specimens, being rhomboidal, compressed, 

 with a wide flattened lip and a quadrate aperture which does not extend more 

 than half the length of the bone. 



The cervical mass (Plate XYII., figs. 2 and 2a) consists of seven vertebrae, 

 completely united by their neural spines, and all but the last of the tips of the 

 lateral spines ; the articular surface of the atlas is 6 by 2 inches, shallow^ and 

 divided by a ligamentous area that is wide above but narrow below j the 

 neural spines are coalesced to form a sharp keel and a laminated plate over- 

 hanging the posterior articulation as in the common black whale, Euhalcena 

 (Madeayius) australis ; there is only one inferior lateral process, forming a 

 wing-like expansion on each side, angulate in front but concave behind ; the 



