196 DR R. N. RUDMOSE BROWN ON 



This seal has also been referred to as Dumont d'Urvill.e's Seal, since it was discovered 

 by that explorer, in analogy with the names of the Weddell and Ross Seals. The 

 appellation, though quite justifiable on these grounds, is a clumsy one, and is unlikely 

 to come into use. 



A full-grown Lobodon attains a length of over 9 feet and a weight of 500-600 Ibs. 

 or more. A temperature of 99 F. was recorded in one by Dr Pirie. 



Ommatoplioca rossi Gray the Ross Seal. 



This seal was rarely seen, and. despite the frequent expeditions of recent years, still 

 remains one of the rarest of known mammals. It is the only one of the Antarctic 

 seals that is entirely confined to Antarctic seas, and which has never been recorded from 

 extra-polar regions. During the voyage of the Scotia the Ross Seal was only seen on 

 five occasions, and on four of these it was among the pack some distance from land. 

 The most southerly one was seen about the latitude of the Antarctic circle, midway 

 between the South Orkneys and Coats Land, in the month of March. In December 

 1903 an old male with very worn teeth was observed in Scotia Bay, and several 

 were noted there in the course of the following and subsequent years. During the 

 first year (1904) of the Argentine occupation of Omond House Mr R. C. Mossman 

 captured a young female of this species, about 5^ feet in length and estimated at 

 about six weeks, near Cape Burn-Murdoch, Scotia Bay. This is particularly 

 interesting, since it is the first young specimen of the Ross Seal ever brought home, 

 and the only one known up to the present time. In 1892, Dr Bruce and Mr W. G. Burn- 

 Murdoch captured what Dr Bruce is now certain was a young Ross Seal. As soon as 

 the boat came alongside of the Balisna, however, Captain Fairweather ordered the 

 animal to be taken out on to the ice and skinned. The carcase was left on the ice, and 

 the skin heaved aboard as one of the 6000 skins taken home to Dundee. Prof. T. W. E. 

 David speaks of two young Ross Seals in February on the Drygalski Ice Barrier 

 Tongue in Victoria Land, but he does not give their age. Under the circumstances 

 neither could be preserved.* Previous records of this seal in the Weddell Sea are 

 those of Ross and Weddell. Dr Bruce, in 1892, refers to great numbers of Ross Seals, 

 but he admits that he was wrong in his identification in this case. Solitary individuals, 

 as in the Weddell Sea, have been recorded by practically all recent expeditions from 

 other parts of the Antarctic, but everywhere the Ross Seal is very rare. Dr Turquet, 

 of the expedition of the Frangais to the west of Graham Land, is not sure that he saw 

 any, but some of his colleagues certainly heard the characteristic cry. The collection 

 of skins, however, of this expedition seems to contain one of the Ross Seal. In the 

 same region the Pourquoi Pas ? seems to have sighted but two. M. Racovitza, of the 

 Belgica, comments on their rarity ; and the Swedish expedition in the Antarctic on 

 the east and north of Graham Land during their twenty-one months' stay saw none. 



* The Heart of the Antarctic, vol. ii. p. 208, London, 1909. 



