WEDDELL'S SEAL. 13 



beach outside the Heads and was deposited iu a museum at Wanganui. The first 

 specimens placed in the British Museum were procured from the river Santa Cruz 

 on the East coast of Patagonia. Sir James Eoss procured but one specimen from the 

 Antarctic. Kerguelen and Heard Islands seem to be more frequently visited by 

 wandering examples of Leptonychotes than the more Northern lands as one would expect, 

 and Mr. Moseley reported a herd of four hundred of these seals on an outlying island of 

 Kerguelen, and many bones of the " Sea Leopard " on Heard Island. Whether these 

 were really Leptonychotes or Stenorhinchus is still doubtful, and judging only from 

 probabilities one would be inclined to think that they were at any rate not Weddell's 

 Seals. It is certain, however, that one true example of Leptonychotes was taken at 

 Kerguelen. 



By the " Belgica " Expedition Weddell's Seal was seen abundantly in the 

 Palmer Archipelago, and by the " Southern Cross," and the " Antarctic " (Bull's cruise) 

 all alone the coast of South Victoria Land. Dr. Donald and Mr. Bruce in the Dundee 

 Whalers' cruise saw a few of this species in Graham's Land, and more recently they 

 have been reported as " very numerous " in the South Orkneys, where " over a hundred 

 could often be counted lying on the small raised beach on the west side of Scotia Bay." 

 In the Weddell Sea it is reported by Dr. Pirie and Mr. Brown to have been seen off 

 Coats' Land, 74° S. and 22° W., in March, and again by Dr. Nordenskjold to have been 

 the commonest of all seals iu Louis Philippe Land, where, however, he adds, " it 

 could not be depended on during the winter months ; " and finally it was met with 

 by the German Expedition off Kaiser Wilhelm's Land ; while in Ade'lie Land, it is 

 noted iu Wilkes' and Dumont D'Urville's narratives under various names, and the " Sea 

 Elephant " so constantly mentioned by Wilkes, refers in all probability very often to 

 Weddell's Seal. 



The normal range of distribution of Leptonychotes is therefore more or less 

 coincident with the coast line of Antarctic lands and not with the distribution of the 

 Antarctic pack ice. Occasional examples may be carried by drifting bergs to the 

 northern limit of ice in the winter months, but as Weddell's Seal is not in any 

 complete sense a migrant, it will not be less rare in these latitudes in the winter 

 than in the summer. The Southern limit of its range is the same for summer 

 and winter, and coincides with the limits of Barrier ice and the coast-line of the 

 so-called Antarctic Continent. 



Weddell's Seal does not migrate. It is to be found at the southernmost limit 

 of its range throughout the winter months, but is not so much in evidence at that 

 season as it is in the siunmer months. Its southernmost limit throughout the year is 

 decided by the possibility of obtaining food, and not at all by temperature or climate, 

 neither of which seems to affect either it or its supply of food to any considerable 

 extent. The food of Weddell's Seal consists almost entirely of fish, though the 

 beaks of cuttle-fish are often found in the stomach, showing that its diet is not 

 exclusive. Crustaceans also form a small part of its food supply, and, as iu most other 



