342 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



upwards of i6 gallons of oil. The largest sized seal is less numerous than the smaller 

 species, and is armed with enormous tusks, fully as large and strong as those of the 

 polar bear, to which also the shape of the head has a very strong resemblance. It 

 should be attacked with caution for although awkward and unwieldy on the ice, it has 

 both the inclination and the means of inflicting severe wounds, and is therefore a 

 formidable creature to engage." He mentions "The middle sized seal [i.e. the Weddell 

 seal], called the sea leopard." The illustration, from a drawing by Hooker, attached to 

 Ross's chapter iv shows a leopard seal in the water. Subsequent explorers have usually 

 mentioned it, and invariably described it as occurring in small numbers and widely 

 scattered if the matter of distribution was considered. Trouessart (1907): "A little 

 less rare than the Ross seal but lives scattered"; Shackleton (1909): "We saw only two 

 sea leopards during the whole period of our stay in the Antarctic"; Mawson (191 5): 

 "only three were observed during our two years in Adelie Land." I am able to state 

 that during the period 23 December 19 14 to April 19 16, thirty-seven leopard seals were 

 recorded by Mr F. Worsley in his own diary. This is an unusually large number. In 

 the MS. report on mammals of the 'Quest' Expedition 1921-2, Wilkins says that not 

 more than twenty leopards were seen during the voyage in the Weddell Sea, a period of 

 twelve weeks. 



DISTRIBUTION 

 Hydrurgo is recorded from most of the Subantarctic lands and islands as well as 

 from the Antarctic itself, its distribution extending so far north as to include New 

 Zealand, New South Wales and even Lord Howe Island (30° 31' S), where John 

 MacGillivray procured the skull of one killed a few days previously. In Patagonia and 

 Fuegia it is rare (A. Milne-Edwards, 1891), but it is well known in South Georgia and 

 the Falklands and there is reason to beheve that it is increasing in the latter. 



There is some evidence that there is a movement of this species towards the north 

 in winter; Anderson (1905) states that it was absent from Paulet Island from April 

 to October, and from the expedition's headquarters from February to August. Ains- 

 worth (1915) says: "It is present at Macquarie in great numbers from late winter to 



early summer " In the Falklands Hydrurga is most plentiful in spring and early 



summer. 



NOMENCLATURE 

 De Blainville described this species under the name of Phoco leptonyx, and F. Cuvier 

 (1824) placed it in a dilTerent genus, StenorhyncJnis or Stenorhinchus , but mentions the 

 name only in the vernacular and not in the classical form. The occurrence of the 

 two spellings obscures the question of the correct generic name. Cuvier writes: "ce 

 Leptonyx sera pour nous le type du genre Stenorhinque, a cause de son museau 

 etroit"; but in 1826 he refers to " Les Stenorhynques " on p. 548 and on p. 549 to 

 " Stenorhynque leptonyx" in capitals, but gives the classical form as Stenorhinchus 

 leptonyx. In the same work, in volume 50 (1829), the article "Stenorhynque", p. 503, 

 gives Stenorhynchtis, and it is stated: "M. F. Cuvier a forme sous ce nom un genre 



