174 



KOTKS. 



NOTES. 



A whale (Zipliius layardi, Flower) recently stranded near 

 Southport, Plate xix, — An opportunity of examining in tlie 

 flesh any of the Australian whales so seldom occurs, that 

 when found it should be made a note of. Between Saturday 

 and Sunday last a small whale being discovered stranded on 

 the Southport beach, was as soon as possible forwarded to 

 the Museum where it arrived on Tuesday morning. It was 

 found to be a young female of one of the Ziphiidse or 

 Beaked whales. The general form is that of a long double 

 €OQe, with the tail anterior to the flanks vertically com- 

 pressed. The jaws equal in length and somewhat curved, 

 ascendiug slightly from before the middle to the tips and 

 abruptly to the angle of the gape. The eye small and in a line 

 with the angle of the mouth. The blow-hole on the top of the 

 head a little in front of the level of the eye, curved with its end 

 turned forwards. The pectorals small. The dorsal rather 

 larger and slightly falcate. The flukes broad and with a low 

 medial ridge in the vertebral line. The skin entirely naked, dull 

 black above, purplish-black on the lower parts where it is marked 

 by numerous scars, old and fresh. The epiderm thin but firm, 

 not deciduous as in the dugong. Corium about to |- inch 

 thick, soft and easily torn. Owing to the lapse of time since 

 death and heat of the locality, the viscera, bathed in exfcra- 

 vasated blood, were to my great disapointment unfit for exami- 

 nation; indeed they could not be satisfactorily separated. That 

 the ovary was distinct and the stomach empty was about all 

 that could be ascertained. There are no teeth above the gums 

 in either jaw and none could be felt by the knife beneath the 

 skin. 



MEASUREMENTS. 



Length 12 ft. 4 in. Girth of body 7 ft. 1 in. 



Snout to pectoral ... 3 ft. 1 in. Pectoral, length ... 1 ft, 3 in, 



eye 1 ft. 9 in. „ breadth ... ft. 4| in. 



„ gape 1 ft. 2^ in. Dorsal, length ft. 9 in. 



dorsal 7 ft. 6 in. „ height ... ft. 6 in. 



vent 9 ft. 3 in. Tail, breadth of flukes 2 ft. 10 in. 



Oirthofhead 3 ft. 7 in. „ depth Oft. ll^in. 



There is little doubt that the animal is Ziphius layardi, but 

 until the skull and vertebras are available for inspection a posi- 

 tive decision cannot be given. — C. W. De Vis. 



