168 Transactions. — Zoology. 



crests, separated by a notcli, the nasal bones being feebly developed ; the 

 maxillaries commence at the sides at some distance from the tip of the beak, 

 but expand behind into a slightly concave surface that covers the whole of the 

 frontal area ; the supra-occipital is convex ; blow-holes are straight, almost 

 equally developed, and vertical ; the skull being only very slightly unsym- 

 metrical ; lower jaw expanded and convex behind, produced and slender in 

 front, united by a symphysis equal to one-third the total length of the bone, 

 and which is slightly ascending ; the teeth are deeply implanted in the top of 

 the jaw, and were completely inclosed in the gum.s, so as only to be discovered 

 by dissection ; they are small, quite compressed, of oblique triangular shape, 

 rough at the base, but with a sharp polished tip. Their weight is about 

 forty grains each. 



A. Skull (for dimensions, see Trans. N.Z. Inst., II., 27), cervical vertebrae, 

 scapulae, hyoid and pectoral bones of a specimen cast ashore in Taitai Bay near 

 Porirua. Total length, 9 feet 3 inches. Collected by Dr. Knox. This skull 

 was at first taken for a young Berardius on account of the deep groove along 

 the beak. 



Two teeth of the same shape have been obtained, the one in New Zealand, 

 the other in the Chatham Islands, which are of much larger size, weighing 

 over 200 grains. This circumstance, and the very spongy character of the 

 bones, and the imperfect ossification of the sutures, lead to the belief that the 

 above described specimen was only a young individual, and that this whale 

 reaches a much larger size. A second skull, with part of the beak broken off", 

 has since been found in a sandy deposit, some distance from the sea, near 

 Wanganui. It agrees exactly in size and form with the foregoing. 



B. The skull of an adult in the Canterbury Museum, picked up on the 

 Kaiapoi beach, has the same genera] form, but is one-fourth larger, and is 

 slightly different in its proportion, the beak being more slender at the notch. 

 The groove along the upper surface of the beak is completely obliterated, and 

 converted into a dense callous ridge, with a depressed channel on each side. 

 The sutures of the skull have also been completely ossified, and the bone has 

 lost the spongy texture that characterizes the two first specimens described. 



The following are the measurements of the skull in the Canterbury 



Museum : — 



Inches. 

 Total length .. . ... ... ... ... ... 31 



Length of beak 

 Width at orbits 

 Height of occiput ... ... 



Width of blow-hole 

 Skull symmetrical. Lower jaw wanting. 



18 

 11 

 10-5 



2- 



