SEALS n 



would prove to be maies. I find, however, that (') according to Mr. W. S. Bruce, Dr. Donald 

 found the female Leopard-Seals larger than the maies. This observation, if not based upon some 

 error, is of considérable interest, as I am not aware of any similar case amongst the Pinnipedia, 

 in which the maies are frequently larger than the females. At ail events, until the point is final ly 

 settled by further investigation, we shall do well to hesitate before attempting to guess the sex 

 of any skull of this Seal. 



Whether, however, the larger skulls be those of maies or females, there are, as in the case 

 of Lobodon, so many spécimens of intermediate proportions that the détermination of their sex, 

 except in life, must always be a matter of difficulty. It can only be supposed that, as in the case 

 of the maies of Otaria ufsina and 0. jubata, the size and development of the larger sex of 

 Leopard-Seals are exceedingly variable characters. 



As might hâve been expected, the cheek-teeth of this species show far more than those of 

 the other three Antaictic Seals the effects of wear and use. The sphenoidal suture seems to 

 rcmain unfused throughout life. 



Conspicuous individual variations in the skulls of this species are rare, but it may be 

 worth placing on record that the posterior margin of the palate of no. 325 d. of the British 

 Muséum collection is crescentic, and not Y-shaped, as in ail the other spécimens. This variation 

 is said to be parrallelled in the case of a single spécimen (no. 1095) in the collection of the Royal 

 Collège of Surgeons, London. 



Distinguishing Characteristics : — (a). The skull of this seal, having been described by 

 Owen in the Catalogue of the Osteological Muséum of the Collège of Surgeons, is well known. 

 (See Nos. 3g38 to 3941). Two characters at once distinguish it from that of every other Phocid, 

 viz : — firstly, its great length ; and, secondly, the extraordinary character of its teeth which 

 are distinguishable at ail âges by their large proportions and the peculiar arrangement of the 

 cusps. Of thèse there are three placed one after the other in a line running parallell to the 

 long axis of the jaw. The two smaller, the first and last, hâve their apices usually curved 

 towards the large central cusp, which itself bears a recurved apex. 



(b) Externally the Leopard-Seal is remarkable for its large size, its elongated body and its 

 spotted skin. M. Racovitza ( 2 ) says that the length of the animal is more than three mètres, 

 and that the colour of its coat is « gris foncé, moucheté de taches jaunes, » and Mr. Bruce writes 

 that thèse seals reminded him of snakes. 



Of the habits and habitat of the Leopard-Seals M. Racovitza has little to tell us, contenting 

 himself only with the remark that as regards the Seal's réputation as an enemy of the Penguins 

 he can only say that he has seen two Leopard-Seals quarrelling over the carcase of a Forster's 

 Penguin ( Aptenodytes Forsteri) which had been thrown down near them. (op. cit.) 



(1) See : Proc. Phys. Soc. Edinburgh, xn, pp. 35o-354- 



(2) La Vie des Animaux et des Plantes dans V Antarctique , published by the « Société Royale belge de Géographie » 

 p. 33, 1900. 



