170 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Immediately above the caudal fin the white disappears, and the lower 

 surface assumes a dark greyish colour. 



The centre of the caudal fin is, however, white, both sides and the 

 posterior edge being slaty-black, and the same remarkable patterns, having 

 sometimes the form of a wave toppling over, form the boundary between 

 both colours. 



The contrast between the black and the milky- white, and the cloud- 

 like appearance of some of the marks in bright violet upon the latter is very 

 striking. 



Tongue, bright violet ; lower portion of mouth, violet. Palate, near tip 

 of snout slaty-black, gradually getting lighter and changing to violet. 



Form. — Oi;r New Zealand specimen agrees so closely with the descrip- 

 tion of the form of Balmioj^tera rostrata from the northern hemisphere, 

 that I have no doubt, after comparing also the skeletons, that our small 

 New Zealand pike whale is identical with the northern species, and that 

 therefore the generic distinction as given by Gray has to be abandoned. I 

 shall therefore not transcribe my notes as to its general appearance, nor add a 

 drawing of the Sumner specimen, as this has been done by others, including 

 Prof. F. W. Hutton, who has published a drawing of a small specimen (of 

 the length of 16 feet 2^ inches, taken in October, 1873, off Otago Heads) in 

 the Annals and Magazine of Natural History.* 



I was informed that the specimen under consideration showed marks of 

 having been wounded all over and probably driven ashore by a swordfish, 

 but on examination I did not find that any of the small fresh wounds 

 upon it could have been inflicted by such an animal. 



All the wounds of fresh appearance were roundish, and only about half 

 An inch in diameter and of no depth, being all near the lower portion. 



However, there were a considerable number of scars on different parts 

 of the body, some of them three inches long and two inches broad, having 

 also a continuous line of a more pronounced scar along the centre, which 

 might be attributed to a Histiophorus. 



Measueements. 



Ft. in. 

 Total length in a straight line . . . . . . . . 23 4 



Length of gape 



From tip of snout to anterior corner of eye 



Eye, longitudinal diameter 



„ vertical „ 



From tip of snout to base of pectoral fin . . 



4 10 

 4 1 

 2i 

 1 



7 8 



Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.," ser. 4, vol. XIII., pi. xvi. 



