i8 9 5. ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION. 105 



about 9 a.m. to bask in the sun during the day ; in December they 

 were all in bad condition but improved during January, and in 

 February were very fat ; their food consisted of fish, small crusta- 

 ceans, and an occasional penguin. In February the embryo was 

 well developed, and almost every female examined was with young. 

 The seals were perfectly fearless of man, and offered no resist- 

 ance to the sealer, simply waiting their turn to be killed. If the 

 present indiscriminate slaughter of both sexes goes on, there is not 

 the slightest doubt that at no distant period the true seals (Phocidae) 

 of the Antarctic seas will be as completely exterminated as are 

 the millions of Fur Seals (Otariidae) which formerly inhabited the 

 islands of the Southern Seas. It is sad to think that our increased 

 knowledge of the Antarctic seas should be purchased at such a 

 price. 



Of the fishes we learn next to nothing. Mr. Murdoch (1) gives a 

 sketch on p. 255 of a small fish, which he describes vaguely enough 

 as " something between a whiting and a gurnard," a large number of 

 which were taken from the stomach of a seal ; and Capt. Larsen, who 

 found apparently the same fish under like circumstances, calls it a 

 Kvitting (Whiting). Ross (13, vol. ii., p. 160) killed a seal in 95 S., 

 1 55 W., from the stomach of which he took 28 lbs. weight of fish of 

 two kinds, " one a Sphyrcena, the other a Notothenia " ; they were very 

 much mutilated, but sufficient material could be found to enable 

 Sir John Richardson (14, part ii., page 8) to describe the latter as a 

 new species under the name of Notothenia phocce ; it seems not impro- 

 bable that this was the fish found by Capt. Larsen. The possible 

 examples of a Maurolicus have already been alluded to ; and this is all 

 the information given with regard to the fishes. 



Of the marine invertebrates even less is said, a red shrimp which 

 was also found abundantly by Ross being about the only form 

 mentioned. 



Of the birds, fortunately, more information was obtained ; but 

 the material brought home was not in a condition to be of the greatest 

 service to science, and very few of the specimens were deposited 

 in the National Collections. A specimen of the Emperor Penguin 

 has come into the possession of the Museum of Science and Art at 

 Edinburgh, and Capt. Fairweather of the " Balaena " presented 

 examples of Lams scoresbyi and L. dominicanus to the British Museum. 

 Mr. Murdoch (1) laments (p. 244) that "common albatross skins were 

 collected by the score, and rare penguins killed by the hundred, their 

 bodies eaten, and their skins chucked overboard. Emperor Penguins^ 

 King Penguins [?] , an endless variety of birds, some unheard of [?] , all 

 go over the side because they are supposed to be of no commercial 

 value." Surely some of these skins so little valued might have been 

 rescued by Mr. Murdoch and his friend. Professor D'Arcy Thompson, 

 who seems to have received most of the material brought home, and 



by whom it is hoped that some report will in due time be published, 



1 



