ROSS' SEAL. 41 



Surh nkuUs uf the Northern Orca as I have been aljle to examine present an array 

 of teeth which well agree with their inscriptions. The distance dividing the coni.-al 

 crowns varies from 1 to 21 inches. These measurements as nearly as possible agree with 

 many of the scars. Take, for example, such scars as are figured below from skin No. 6 

 in our collection, showing not only where the teeth of the upper and lower jaws 

 pierced the skin, but where the skin eventually gave way and allowed the victim to 

 escape (fig. 26, p. 38). The spacing of the teeth in this case must have been about 

 an inch, and the length of jaw which inflicted the wounds, about 21 inches. 



OMMATOPHOCA EOSSI. 



Ross Seal. 



Ommatophoca rossi, Gray, Zool. Ereb. and Terr. (1844), pp. 7-8, Pis. VII., VIII. ; Barrett Hamilton, Rep. 

 'South. Cross' Coll. (VM)2), ^p. i6, ibique citata ; Brown, Mossman, and Pirie, Voy. ' Scutia' (lt)02), 

 pp. 320, 321, 327, 350, 361. 



List of Material in ' Discovery ' Collection. 



No. 1, <J , ad. skin and skull. Jan. 7, 1902. 68° S. lat., 175° E. long. Pack ice, Ross Sea. 



No. 46, (J , ad. skin and skull. Jan. 8, 1902. 70° S. lat., 173° E. long. Pack ice, Ross Sea. 



No. 14, 9 , ad. skin and skull. Jan. 6, 1902. 08° S. lat., 175° E. long. Pack ice, Ross Sea. 

 {Mounted for the B. M. Gallery by Roicland Ward.) 



List of Material in ' Morning ' Collection. 



No. 08, M. 20, (J , ad. skin and skull. Jan. 1903. 09° S., 178° E. Pack ice, Ross Sea. 



No. 67, M. 25, (J , ad. skin and skull. Jan. 1903. 09° S., 178° E. Pack ice, Ross Sea. 



No. 69, M. 28, (J , ad. skin and skull. Jan. 1903. 09°S., 178°E. Pack ice, Ross Sea. In 

 full moult. 



Ommatophoca was first discovered by the British Exj)cdition of 1840 under Sir 

 James Ross, and the type specimen which was captured on January 8 th in the pack 

 ice to the north of Ross Sea (68° lat., 176° E. long.), is now in the British Museum 

 (No. 324 A). It was described by Dr. J. E. Gray, and remained unique until, first 

 the Belgian Expedition of 1898-99, and then the 'Southern Cross' of 1898-1900, 

 brought home more examples and some notes upon its natural history. 



Mr. Bruce's " Mottled Grey Seals " were almost certainly young adult Crab-eaters 

 in the freshly moulted coat. The two species are not easily confounded, and so far 

 Ross' Seal has never been discovered in numbers together, preferring, it would seem, 

 always to live a solitary existence in the pack. 



From Dr. Racovitza we have a description of this seal, of its voice in particular, 

 and of its general appearance in the flesh, accompanied by a very excellent photograph 

 which shows the peculiar habit it has of inflating the pharynx with air. 



Six specimens of Ommatophoca were procured by our own expedition in the 

 pack ice of Ross Sea, and on thirteen occasions it was seen by members of the 

 ' Belgica ' Expedition in the pack ice to the west of Graham's Land. This very 



