454 THE ELEPHANT SEAL CHAP. 



have long roots. The nose of the male has a dilatable proboscis. 

 The southern Elephant Seal is M. leoninus, and reaches a 

 length of some 20 feet. It occurs on the shores of Kerguelen 

 and some other more or less remote islands. Its habits have 

 been studied and described by several observers, beginning with 

 Anson in the last century. The late Professor Moseley gave a good 

 account of this marine monster in his book on the voyage of 

 the " Challenger." When the animal is enraged, the end of the 

 snout is dilated ; but when this happens there is no long and 

 hanging proboscis such as has sometimes been described. The 

 inflation affects the skin on the top of the snout, which thus rises 

 rather upwards during inflation. The inflated region, according 

 to Mr. Vallentin, quoted by Mr. J. T. Cunningham, is about 

 1 foot long in an individual of 17 feet. It has been stated that 

 this proboscis is a temporary structure, only appearing in the 

 breeding season ; but recent observations have shown that this 

 statement is inaccurate ; it persists all the year round. The 

 males fight greatly during the breeding season, and produce a 

 roar which has been compared to the " noise made by a man 

 when gargling." The females and the young males bellow like a 

 bull. The males fight of course with their teeth, literally falling 

 upon one another with their whole weight. Mr. Cunningham 

 thinks that the use of the proboscis is to protect the nose from 

 injury; or that it may be merely the result of "emotional 

 excitement." In any case the Bladder-nosed Seal, Cystophora, is 

 undoubtedly protected from injury by the possession of a corre- 

 sponding hood. The nose is the most vulnerable place, and the 

 existence of this hood would stave off the effects of a blow in 

 that region. Moseley, however, has said of Macrorhinus that it 

 cannot be stunned by blows on the nose as other Seals can ; but 

 he attributes this, not to the dilated snout, but to the bony 

 crest on the skull, and to the strength of the bones about the 

 nose. This Seal crawls with difficulty on the land, and as the 

 animals move " the vast body trembles like a great bag of jelly, 

 owing to the mass of blubber by which the whole animal is 

 invested, and which is as thick as it is in a whale." 1 When 

 lying on the shore, these animals scrape sand and throw it 

 over themselves, apparently to prevent themselves from being 



1 Cunningham, "Sexual Dimorphism in the Animal Kingdom," London, 1900 ; 

 see also Flower, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1881, p. 145. 



