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Art. XVTII. — Observations on the Ziphidpe, a Family of the Getacea. 

 By F. J. Knox, L.KC.S.E. With Notes by Dr. Hector, F.R.S. 



(With Illustrations.) 



[Read before the Wellington PhUoso2}hical Society, January 29, 1870.] 



Three specimens of this remarkable family have come under my notice : — 



(1.) In January, 1862, a male sj)ecimen was embayed in the Porirua 

 Harbour, and was captured by Mr. London, of which I was only able to make 

 a rude sketch, and take a few of the measurements. '^' , 



(2.) In January, 1866, a male specimen was stranded in Titai Bay, and Jw . -iJo 

 was captured by Mr. H. Arthur. Of this specimen I was enabled to make "^l/^ 

 a tolerably correct drawing (see Plate XIII. , fig. ij, and, at the same time, 

 obtained numerous portions, including the head now in the Museum. 



(3.) In January, 1870, a specimen was stranded in Worser's Bay, near the %^<H^ 

 entrance to Port Nicholson, and was captured. Of this specimen I obtained (<^rrvu^ 

 the entire head. 



I will confine my remarks to the leading peculiarities of the Ziphid(B, 

 namely, the presence or absence of teeth. It is admitted by naturalists, 

 and more especially by Dr. Gray, of the British Museum, that the history 

 of these animals is involved in the greatest uncertainty. There cannot 

 be a doubt that a correct representation taken from life is of primary 

 importance, but in the case of the Cetaceans, including animals of gigantic 

 proportions and whose habitat is the ocean, a correct likeness can scarcely be 

 obtained ; and the very fact of reducing an animal a hundred feet in length to 

 suit the dimensions of an octavo volume is liable to destroy every vestige of a 

 true or correct idea, even in the mind of the matured and experienced 

 philosopher. 



These remarks apply more especially to the animals forming the subject 

 of the present notice. 



In the recent state no vestige of teeth can be discovered, and thus 

 the term Aodon might and indeed would have been applied, even by 

 practical or scientific naturalists, to such specimens. In the case of my first 

 specimen no dissection was obtained, and I described it in a short notice, 

 published in the local press, as a specimen of the Aodon. In my second 

 specimen, in like manner, not a vestige of teeth could be seen, the snout 

 perfectly resembling the beak of a bird ; the blubber had been i emoved before 

 I saw the animal, so that I was only able to procure the head and other 

 portions of the skeleton. These were j^ut into the macerating tub, and in due 

 time the bones were picked out of the debris, when a remarkably shaped tooth 

 (Plate XV., fig. 4b) was discovered close to the symphysis of the lower jaw. 

 In my third specimen, in like manner, no appearance of teeth (although 



