Hector". — Notes on the Whales of the Sew Zealand Seas. 331 



Aet. XLV. — Notes on the Whales of the New Zealand Seas. 

 By James Hector, C.M.G,, M.D., F.E.S. 



Plates XVI. and XVII. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 12th January, 1878.] 

 Having lately had an opportunity of examining various type specimens of 

 our Cetaceans in tlie European museums, and of consulting important books 

 of reference on this branch of our zoology, especially the magnificent work 

 of Professors Van Beneden and Gervais,* I am enabled to offer a few 

 critical notes on some of the species in continuation of my former papers to 

 the Society,! and in anticipation of a complete review of the species now 

 described from New Zealand, showing the present state of our knowledge 

 on this subject. 



1. Neobal^na marginata. 



NeobalcBtm mar ginata, Gray; Supp. Cat. Seals aud Whales, p. 41; Hector, 



Trans. N.Z. Inst., 11., 26, (skull) ; V., pi. 6 (ear-bones) ; VII., 251, pi. 



17 (external form and complete skeleton) . 



This species having by one author]: been treated as a synon}TH of 



Eubalcena australis, or the black whale, I have compared the skeletons of 



young individuals, as I presume that, from its small size, it has been taken 



for the young of the latter species. 



Only three examples of Neohalcena are known :— 



a. The original type from Kawau Island, presented to the Colonial 

 Museum by Sh* George Grey, and of which only the skull was preserved, 

 measuring 57 § inches in length. This is the largest specimen yet met 

 with, and the proportionate length of the animal would be 20 feet. 



b. A complete skeleton 14 feet 6 inches long, obtained ||by Mr. Charles 

 Traill on Stewart Island, and now in the British Museum, and of which 

 the skull measures 41 inches. 



c. SkuU of a very young individual in the Auckland Museum, measuring 

 85 inches.H 



In each of these specimens the baleen is i)resent with the characteristic 

 elongated form, fine texture, and yellow colour with a black margin, and 

 the other details of the skull and form of the ear-bones also agree closely, 

 exhibiting only differences of growth. 



* Osteographie des C6taces vivants et fossiles : 4to., with atlas of plates, folio. Paris. 

 13 parts published. 



t Trans. N.Z. Institute, JI., 26 ; III., 128 ; V., 151 ; VI., 86 ; VII., 251 ; IX., 477. 



I A. W. Scott, M.A., Mammalia, recent and extinct— Section Pinnata. Sydney, 1873. 



§ Trans. N.Z. Inst., II., 26. || Trans. N.Z. Inst., Vn., 263. 



^ Trans. N.Z. Inst., VII., 251. 



