Fig. 1.—Sketch showing external characters. the flipper as being more or less falcate.) The flukes were five feet wide and turned back at the ends. The jaws were long and narrow, the lower mandible extending 1 inch (1½) in advance of the upper. Snout to gape measured 24 inches (26). On the throat were two crescentic grooves each 15 inches in length. The whale had 18 small, uneven, exposed teeth in each side of both upper and lower jaws. The teeth at theend of the lower jaw had bulbous bases contracting steeply to conical crowns. All teeth showed considerable wear. (From the Wanganui specimen 56 teeth were collected, but according to the alveoli the total number of teeth would be 93.) In checking over my MS. and sketches I noted that Mr. Traill's sketch did not show the flukes bilobate. Wishing to make sure that this character did not exist in Tasmacetus shepherdi, I immediately communicated with Mr. Traill. This is his reply:— “I am afraid I cannot definitely say whether there was a middle indentation or not in the flukes of the whale. I remember spreading the flukes out carefully to get the correct shape. If there was one, it must have been very small, and I think I would have noticed it and taken note of it otherwise.” I also wrote to the Wanganui Museum asking if the sex had been noted of the type specimen. The Hon. Director, Mr. J. Grant, replied as follows:— “Re the whale: The Tasmacetus was in too rotten a condition for Shepherd to determine the sex, but the Maoris who took most of the blubber before the whale was taken to sea the second time assured him that they found the young one inside. It was also impossible to determine whether throat grooves were present ….”