Hectok. — Xotcs on the Whales of the New Zealand Seas. 333 



Arctic regions. If such be tlie case it will have an interesting bearing on 

 the distribution of tlie Cetacea, that the forms of temperate latitudes 

 (Euhalcena) should present less divergent characters than the Arctic and 

 Antarctic representative forms. 



2. EuBALiENA AUSTEALIS. 



Balcena australis, Desmoulins ; Diet. Class. H.N., II., 161. 



Balana antipodannn, Gray ; Dieffenbach's N.Z., II., 183 ; v. Beneden and 



Gervais, Osteog., 35. 

 Caperea antipodarum, Gray; Cat. S. and W., 101. 

 Hunterius temminckii, Gray ; I.e. 98. 



Macleayius australiensis, Gray; Trans. N.Z. Inst., VI., 90. 

 Euhalcena australis, Gray ; Cat. S. and W., 91 (as a Cape species); Hector, 

 Trans. N.Z. Inst., V., 156 (as a New Zealand species). 

 Examuiation of the type specimens of the foregoing species, into which 

 the common black whales of the southern seas have been divided, confirms 

 the view that there are no sufficient grounds for their separation, and that 

 they should be combined under the name first given to Cuvier's " Baleine 

 du Caj).'" 



At the same time I adopt Gray's separation of the genera Balcenti and 

 EuhalcBna as necessary on account of the great difference in the form of the 

 skull, in the number of ribs, and the quality and size of the baleen. Thus 

 in Balcena the head is one-third of the entire length of the animal, and the 

 maxillaries are enormously produced, so that they are three-fourths of the 

 length of the skull. 



In Euhalcena the head forms one-fourth of the length, and the beak is 

 only two-thirds the length of the skull. 



The number of vertebrae compare as follows : — 



Balana. Euhalcena. 



Cervicals . . . . . . 7 . • . . . . 7 



Dorsals 13 15 



Lumbars . . . . . . 10 . . . . . . 10 



Caudals 23 27 



Although the fine skeleton of Balczna mysticetus in the Brussels Museum 

 shows a rudimentary fourteenth rib on the left side, the number of dorsal 

 vertebrae in that species never exceeds thirteen, while fifteen is the constant 

 number present in Euhalcena. 



Balcena antipodarum was the name given by Gray to a whale of which 

 only a sketch was preserved, taken by Major Heaphy, V.C., from a specimen 

 stranded in Jackson Bay, Tory Channel, in 1839,* and the same name has 

 been given to a. fine skeleton m the Museum at Paris, obtained in Akaroa 

 Harbour by Captain Berard and Dr. Arnoux of the French corvette " Le 

 Khm." The length of this skeleton is 45 feet, the skull being 13 feet, and 



* Dieffenbach's New Zealand, I., 44. 



