Hector. — Neio Zealand Cetaceans. 167 



conical beak, channelled above and rounded below. The hinder edge of the 

 tooth is 18 inches from the condyle, the width of the base of the tooth is 



5 inches, and its anterior margin is IJ inches in advance of the commence- 

 ment of the symphysis. The lower margin of the jaw is swollen opposite the 

 insertion of the teeth, which are deeply inserted, and slope obliquely back- 

 wards, with a decided incurvature towards the mesial line. The teeth are 



6 inches long, 3 inches wide, and f inch thick. The acute point on the upper 

 angle is very marked, and the anterior edge is worn into a deep notch, with a 

 rough surface showing the laminated structure of the tooth. It is implanted 

 in the jaw by seven or eight fang-like processes, as if formed by the fusion 

 together of a number of teeth. 



There is no socket or notch in the jaw posterior to the tooth, the upper 

 edge of the jaw being sharply defined, but from the tooth forwards there is a 

 distinct dental groove showing the repaains of alveolar processes. 



The species to which I refer the jaw is only known from a single specimen 

 obtained at the Cape of Good Hope, which differs in the greater height and 

 more marked incurvature of the teeth. As it is a larger individual, the lower 

 jaw measuring 3 feet, this difference may be due to age or sex. 



MESOPLODON KNOXL* 



Mesoplodon, Flower, I.e. Berardius arnuxii (Duv.), Hector, Trans. N.Z. 

 Inst., II., 27. Smaller Ziphid Whale, Hector and Knox, Trans. N.Z. 

 Inst., Ill, 125. PL XIII., XIY. and XY. 



Ear hones; PI. YI., 4a. and b. 



Teeth -^ ; body fusiform ; head rounded, beaked, upper snout long and 

 flexible ; eye half way between the angles of the mouth and the pectorals, 

 which are small ; dorsal over the tail ; tail-lobes large, falcate (Knox) ; skull 

 globular, with a slender conical beak ; intermaxillaries form thin linear callous 

 plates, incurved, and inclosing a deep groove occupied by a ligament that 

 extends back from the snout to the blow-holes (as in Berardius), where the 

 groove is closed by the slightly expanded front edge of the septum. [In the 

 adult this groove is obliterated, and the upper surface of the beak forms a 

 hard callous ridge, as in JEpiodon.] They then form a flat lunate area in 

 front of the blow-holes, and behind rise vertically to form moderate knob-like 



* Dr. Gray informed me in January last that lie intended to describe this species 

 under a different name, but not having heard from him again on the subject I adopt the 

 name I originally suggested in compliment to Dr. F. Knox, the veteran anatomist, who 

 has devoted much of his leisure to the study of Cetaceans during thirty years residence 

 in this Colony. 



