186 DR R. N. RUDMOSK BROWN ON 



Sea-elephant, which used to frequent Kergueleu, Heard, Gough, Tristan da Cunha, and 

 other subantarctic islands in huge numbers, is now rapidly becoming extinct. The value 

 of its oil was too great to suffer it to live in peace. But it is not yet a vanished species : 

 individuals are occasionally seen in various subantarctic islands, including Fuegia, 

 South Georgia, Kerguelen, Heard, the Crozets, Tristan da Cunha, Macquarie, and 

 Campbell Islands. During 1902 one was shot in Port William, Falkland Islands, and 

 early in 1903 another came ashore near Cape Pembroke lighthouse, Falkland Islands, 

 but escaped ; and there are other records of its occasional occurrence in the Falkland 

 Islands. During our visit to Saddle Island, South Orkneys, in February 1903, we sighted 

 what was probably a Sea-elephant, but could not get to close quarters. However, in 

 April 1904 a large male 13^ feet long came ashore on the beach in Scotia Bay. This 

 record is of interest since it is not generally considered that the Sea-elephant penetrates 

 the pack. In fact, the edge of the pack-ice probably limits the southern distribution 

 of the Sea-elephant, but variations in the distribution of the pack may mean a con- 

 siderable southward extension of its range in some years. However, it must be 

 recalled that the Discovery sighted one in MacMurdo Strait (77 50' S. ), and that 

 Eoss in 1840-43 recorded it from the Palmer Archipelago and off Louis Philippe 

 Land in 65 S. 



Of the Southern Fur Seal (Arctocephalus australis) we saw nothing at the South 

 Orkneys. It is almost certain that this seal has been exterminated at the South 

 Orkneys, where even in Weddell's time it was rare. " In the evening the boats 

 returned, having coasted these islands for fifty miles. They had found but one Fur Seal 

 and some Sea-leopards " (A Voyage towards the South Pole, London, 1825, p. 23). Off 

 Cape Dundas, South Orkneys, Weddell got two Fur Seals, but none to the westward. 

 At the South Shetlands in 1820 and 1821 Weddell says 300,000 Fur Seals were 

 killed. This kind of slaughter naturally led to its extermination, and recent expedi- 

 tions to the South Shetlauds, as well as Norwegian, Chilian, and other whalers, have 

 looked for it in vain ; though the Swedish Antarctic Expedition found one, and secured 

 the skin, at Nelson Island, South Shetlands, in 1902. There are probably no Fur Seals 

 now living in true Antarctic seas. In South Georgia, where it was once found in 

 enormous numbers, it is extinct. At the South Sandwich group it may still rarely 

 occur : it certainly was found there in comparatively recent years. On the subautarctic 

 islands of New Zealand a few still exist. 



One other seal which the Scotia secured may be mentioned here, although it is 

 not, and never was, an Antarctic species : that is, the Sea-lion (Otariajubata), of which 

 a large male was shot at the Falkland Islands in February 1904. There are several 

 herds of them to be seen at certain of the smaller islands of the Falkland group, notably 

 at the Tussock Islands in Port William. These are low-lying islands covered with thick 

 tufts of tussock-grass growing man-high. The Sea-lions love to lie among this grass, 

 and in consequence it is necessary to proceed warily, for they are formidable antagonists 

 and exhibit surprising agility in their movements on land. This seal well merits the 



