244 Transactions. — Zoology . 



also that they could not have been caused by the animal bemg thrown 

 amongst the rocks ; but must have been inflicted by some other animal. 

 Examining the oval spots, I found that, although they varied from a 

 length of 2 inches, to that of 3 inches, and from a breadth of 1 inch, to that 

 of 2 inches, they had invariably the same character, viz. : that of an oval 

 scar of a dirty whitish colour, both in the white and the black colouration 

 of the skin, with two well-marked points in the centre, always about 1^— 1^- 

 inches apart. These two dots had evidently been the wounds inflicted, 

 round which the scar had been formed. In some instances these points 

 were quite healed over, so as to show that the injiu'y had been done long 

 ago ; in others there were two fresh sores, as if the animal had been struck 

 only a few hours before its death. Although occurring all over the body, 

 with the exception of the back, these oval scars were most frequent below 

 the belly, and principally round the pudendum, where they were often so 

 close together that the scars not only ran into each other, but evidently 

 covered each other, so as to show that the same spot had been struck re- 

 peatedly. The seamed scars, on the other hand, occurred more on both 

 sides of the animal. Only a few crossed the back or reached to the belly. 

 With a few exceptions these seamed scars were always in pairs, l^lf 

 inches apart, and each about i inch broad. Some of them were running 

 for a considerable distance, 7-8 feet, others only for a space of a few inches. 

 That there had been considerable struggle became evident from the direction 

 these seamed scars had taken, some forming, as at a, regular hooks. Some 

 of these wounds were evidently of long standing, being well healed, others 

 had only been inflicted a very short time before the stranding of the animal, 

 as they were quite fresh and deep, and sometimes have a breadth of f of 

 an inch. From the character of these wounds, it appears certain that they 

 could have only been made by an animal or animals of the same species 

 with the two teeth of the lower jaw, the distance of their apices being l-J— 1-| 

 inches from each other, and thus corresponding with both the oval and 

 seamed scars. The aged female from the Kaiapoi beach, of which I gave 

 some particulars on the preceding pages, was scarred and seamed in exactly the 

 same manner. It is thus evident that the females are subject to attacks either 

 from the males during rutting time, or that they fight amongst themselves. 

 In the latter case, which, however, appears to me to be rather improbable, 

 the teeth of the figured specimen must have been of considerable use to the 

 animal, and it is then difficult to understand how the full-grown or aged 

 animals, when their teeth disappear below the gums, can successfully resist 

 the attacks of the younger members of the same species, unless their greater 

 bulk, or probably greater speed, make up for this disadvantage. Of the 

 males of ZipMus noca-zealandia we know nothing at present, but there 



