WelUiigton Philosophical Society. 435 



Among the fossil Cetacea referred to is a skull of a whale, closely allied to Balajn- 

 optera, from the middle miocene formation on the West Coast of the South Island. The 

 matrix which encloses this fossil, is so hard that it is as yet only imperfectly displayed, 

 but it comprises the occipital parietal and frontal bones. 



The teeth and bone fragments of a Zenglodont — recently determined from a col- 

 lection of fossils made by Mr. McKay, during the progress of the Geological Survey in the 

 present season — forms an interesting addition to New Zealand Palaeontology. Unfortu- 

 nately the form of the skull cannot be determined, but the crowns of the teeth agree 

 with that of the great American fossil. They were obtained from the upper eocene strata 

 of the Waitaki valley, in Otago. Fragments of the lower jaw and some ten teeth are 

 preserved, but only a few of the latter are perfect. The teeth are of two kinds, incisors 

 and molars. The largest incisors, probably occupying the position of canines, are 6 inches 

 in length, with a dilated and irregularly curved solid fang supporting a sharp-pointed 

 conical crown IJ inches in length, and covered with a brown polished enamel having, a 

 fluted surface, and two well marked ridges, so that the section of the tooth presents the 

 same pointed elliptical form as in Mososaurus or Liodon. If only the detatched conical 

 crowns of these teeth had been obtained they might have been referred to such a reptilian 

 type. The molars are from 4 to 5 inches in length, and have compressed conical crowns 

 IJ inches wide, also covered with polished and fluted enamel, and having the cutting 

 edges serrated by eight obtuse bluntly conical lobes. The crowns are supported on 

 powerful fangs, which are, in some cases, distinctly double-rooted, although the roots are 

 closely appressed, except at the extremities. In one tooth — the smallest and probably 

 the anterior molar — the division of the fangs is only indicated by shallow grooves on the 

 inner and outer surfaces, and it has a somewhat trilobate character, while in another, 

 probably the most posterior, the fang is strongly curved. In this last case the crown of 

 the tooth is triangular in section, and has its cutting edge directed obliquely inwards and 

 forwards. All the teeth are solid, or have only a slight excavation at the points of the 

 fangs, and consist of a lamminated cement layer '35 inches in thickness, enclosing the 

 massive dentine. 



The fragments of bone indicate a massive solid jaw, one portion showing the posterior 

 part of the ramus as having a depth of 6 or 7 inches. One tympanic bulla was obtained. 

 It has the sub-convolute form characteristic of toothed Cetaceans, such as Berardius 

 or Ziphius. The arrangement and number of the teeth cannot be ascertained owing to the 

 imperfect state of the fossil remains, but the general appearance suggests that this huge 

 animal was allied to the earless seals with serrated molars, such as Stenorhynchus, 

 rather than to Cetaceans, but this indication is contradicted by the teeth being solid and 

 by the character of the tymjDanic bulla. The resemblance to the Zeuglodon is found in 

 the serrated crowns of the double-fanged Molars, but the fangs are not so widely separated, 

 nor do the crowns of the teeth show the hour-glass form in transverse section to the same 

 degree as in the gigantic Zeuglodon, with which it is provisionally associated under the 

 name of Kekenodon onamata* 



Note. — Since the foregoihg was written I find that a very similar tooth fragment, 

 from the eocene strata of South Australia, has been figured by Mr. E. B. Sanger, as Zeu- 

 glodon harwoodii.-f — Also that the New Zealand teeth resemble those figured by Gervais 

 and Van Beneden, as the Phocodon, from Saint Medard-en-Jalle, Bordeaux, J and the 



* Kekeno (Maori), a seal. Onamata (Maori), of long ago. 



t Proceedings Linn. Soc. N. S. W., Vol, V. p. 298, 1881. 



I Osteographie des Cetoaces, p. 453. 



