THE SEALS OF THE WEDDELL SEA. I 05 



later summer they again became common, both adults, male and female, and young. 

 Not only did we fail to find any quite young Lobodons, but we were unfortunate in not 

 securing any pregnant females, and so cannot offer any contributions to the embryo- 

 logy of the species. The Belgica alone secured a very young specimen. However, 

 among our collection of skins are two of young males not more than one year old. 

 M. Racovitza maintains that they bear their young on the pack away from land ; the 

 number of young he saw during the Belgica s long drift in the pack would confirm this. 



The Lobodon is a comparatively shapely seal, and never attains the grossness of the 

 Weddell. It swims rapidly and gracefully, while on the ice it is generally alert and 

 vivacious in its movements, and can travel much faster than the Weddell. 



The young has a thick mouse-grey coat, often with a mottled appearance, but this 

 changes in the adult into a coarser coat, but beautiful creamy-white in colour, though 

 some are rather silvery-white and others remain mouse-grey. Dorsally it is darker 

 than on the ventral surface. However, the colour varies somewhat with the position of 

 the spectator. If looked at from behind forward, it is several shades darker than in the 

 reverse direction ; and this applies equally to the Weddell Seal. With increasing age 

 the coat seems to become whiter. 



A peculiarity of the Lobodon is the scarred appearance it presents in midsummer. 

 In December this is most noticeable ; in January their condition improves, and in 

 February, as a rule, they are free from scars. On the other hand, the young specimen 

 we captured in August had several half-healed scars, and badly scarred Lobodons were 

 seen both in February and March. Yet the fact seems to be that these scars arc in- 

 flicted in November and December as a rule ; this coincides with the. rutting season, 

 when no doubt the males are badly wounded in fighting with one another. As far as 

 the observations of the Scotia naturalists go, the scars are confined to the males ; but in 

 1892 Dr Bruce comments on the females being as badly scarred as the males. The 

 Discovery seems to have noted the same. If that is so, the females must join in the 

 fight. But the deep abdominal gashes that the Lobodon so frequently bears can scarcely 

 be ascribed to this cause. The idea that they are due to attacks by Sea-leopards can be 

 dismissed as groundless and unlikely in the extreme. The likelihood of the Killer 

 Whale being responsible I have discussed in speaking of the Weddell Seal. Dr Wilson 

 pointed out how the pelagic habits of the Lobodon would make it more exposed to these 

 attacks than other seals, and hence the more frequent scars. On the other hand, how- 

 ever, it must be noted that the Lobodon is more agile than the Weddell, not only on 

 land, but also in the water, which should give it greater immunity than the Weddell. 

 This agility of the Lobodon we had ample opportunities to note during the many months 

 the Scotia spent cruising in the pack. Possibly, however, it is more than counter- 

 balanced by the continual presence of the enemy, which the Weddell Seal, in its shallow- 

 water haunts, largely escapes. 



The principal food of the Lobodon is Euphausia, an index to its more pelagic habits, 

 and hence presumably its name of " Crabreater." 



