OCR Text |
Show 478 DR. J. V. HAAST ON MESOPLODON FLOWERI. [June 6, Z. chathamiensis (Hector) from the same seas*. Indeed, so far as can be judged from the description and photographs, the two specimens attributed to the former differ more from each other than does either of them from Z. chathamiensis, especially if, as Dr. v. Haast himself suggests, the difference in the size of the teeth is a sexual character. 3. The photographs sent by Dr. v. Haast of Z. nova-zealandia, when compared with the specimen of Z. indicus, Van Beneden (Pe-trorhynchus capensis, Gray), at the British Museum, do not show any greater differences than are consistent with the range of individual variation. 4. The differences between the last-named species, or supposed species, and Z. cavirostris, Cuvier, anclZ. australis, Burmeister, have never been clearly defined; no proof has therefore yet been given of the existence of more than one species of the genus. 5. Dr. v. Haast's specimen differs from all other known skeletons in having but nine ribs instead of ten. But it is not improbable that the last pair (often rudimentary and unattached to the vertebral column) may have been lost during the preparation. This appears more likely, because the ninth rib (as shown in the photograph) is larger than the last rib usually is in these animals, and the transverse process of the supposed first lumbar vertebra appears somewhat dilated at the end. Moreover the presence of one pair of ribs more or less is often only an individual character in the Cetaceans. 6. A more serious difference consists in the absence of the dorsal fin (hitherto met with in all members of the genus examined); but it must be noted that this is not Dr. v. Haast's own observation, and was made after "nearly all the blubber had been taken off." 3. Notes on Mesoplodon floweri. By J U L I U S V O N H A A S T, Ph.D., F.R.S, Director of the Canterbury Museum, N e w Zealand. [Received May 5, 1876.] (Plates XLV. & XLVI.) In the beginning of April 1874, the information reached me that a Whale about 18 feet long had been stranded on the sea-beach near Saltwater creek, about 30 miles north of Banks Peninsula; and although I did not lose any time in securing the skeleton for the Canterbury Museum, I was too late to obtain the necessary information as to form, colour, position of fins, etc., the animal having in the mean time been stripped in order to obtain the blubber. Fortunately, however, no bone was lost; and on examination the animal proved to be a Mesoplodon, closely allied to a specimen obtained at the Cape of Good Hope, of which the skull has been described aud figured by Dr. Gray, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 358, and subse- * Trans. New-Zealand Institute, vol. v. p. 164, pl. iv. (1873). |