218 MB. H. O. FORBES ON THE [Feb. 28, 



I. An aged skull, without the maudible (probably a male), 

 from Kaiapoi beach, Canterbury, N. Z., labelled, under direction 

 evidently of Sir J. von Haast, as Mesoplodon hnoa-i, Hector, and by 

 another hand changed into Mesojiilodon hectori, Gray. This is the 

 specimen referred to by Sir James Hector, in the ' Transactions ' 

 of the N. Zealand Institute, vol. v. page 168, as being in the 

 Canterbury Museum from Kaiapoi " without the lower jaw," which 

 he considered the adult form of his J^ouug Mesoj^tlodon Tcnoxi. It 

 appears also, with little doubt, to be the same specimen of 

 which Sir J. von Haast, in volume ix. of the same publication, 

 page 455, makes the following observation, which in the absence 

 of the mandible I am at a loss to understand, as it seems to be and 

 to have been, the only specimen from Kaiapoi, or of JM. hectori, in 

 the Museum :— " I wish to add that a comparison of these three 

 skulls of Oidodon [A, F, I] with the skull of Mesoplodon liectori, 

 Gray [= M. l-noai. Hector] in the Canterbury Museum, and 

 wliicli is derived from an aged specimen, shows at a glance the 

 distinct specific character [i. e. teeth at the symphysis of the 

 mandible], besides being much smaller in all its proportions." 



The Canterbury Museum specimen, as will be seen from fig. 1, 

 Plate XIII., differs from Mcsojilodon hectori, Gray, as figured in 

 Sir AY. Flower's paper (Tr. Z. S. yol. x. pi. Ixxi. fig. 4). 



J. The skeleton of an adult from Lvall Bay, N. Z., in the 

 British Museum, described and figured by Sir W. Flower, in 

 volume X. of the Society's ' Transactions,' as Mesoplodon australis. 

 It is probably of the male sex. 



K. A mutilated skull, with its mandible, of an aged male 

 Mesoplodon (Oalodon) grayi, Haast. This is the remaining one of 

 the three Chatham Island crania referred to under specimen A. 

 It is the type specimen of the genus and species, and is the 

 individual figured by A'on Haast in the ' Transactions ' of the N". Z. 

 Institute, vol. ix. plate xxvi. fig. 3 (not fig. 1, as erroneously marked 

 on that plate). Along with its two companions (A and F) it had 

 remained in the same condition as found and figured in 1875, 

 enveloped in its mteguuients, till all three were partly dissected 

 and partly macerated out by me in July 1890. 



L. The specimen described and figured by Sir William Flower 

 in the paper so often referred to, under the name of Mesoplodon 

 haasti. This is an old — even aged— iudividual, nearly of the same 

 age, in my opinion, as K. It is undoubtedly a male, and is now in 

 the collection of the Eoyal College of Surgeons, London. 



AVith these specimens I have compared the published descrip- 

 tions of Mesoplodon [Oidodon) grayi., Haast, given by A"an Beneden 

 and Gervais on plate Ixii. of their ' Osteographie.' 



All the above 13 specimens belong without any doubt to Meso- 

 plodon grayi, Haast; indeed no fewer than six of them were recog- 

 nized by Sir Julius von Haast as belonging to the species which he 

 had himself established. 



M. The skeleton of an aged male of Mesoplodon layardi in the 

 Canterbury Museum, N. Z. — labelled M.Jloweri, Haast. 



