102 BULLETIN OF THE 



spring they are very fat and unwieldy, but when they leave, after their 

 four months' fast, they are very thin, being reduced to one half their 

 former weight. 



The female has four teats, two on each side, equidistant, and in line 

 between the fore and hind flippers. Their milk is of a yellowish color, 

 composed of water and caseine, very insipid, and containing no sugar. 

 The pups nurse but seldom, and when separated from the mother for 

 thirty-six hours and returned to her again, they seem in no haste to do 

 so, and in some cases did not for several hours afterwards. 



About the 20th of July the great body of the previous year's pups 

 arrive and occupy the slopes with the younger class of males, and they 

 continue to be mixed together during the remainder of the season. The 

 two-years-old females, which pair with the young males in the water 

 near the island, also now associate with the other females. 



The pups are five weeks old when the old females go off to feed; 

 they go with the mothers to the upland, but keep by themselves. The 

 pups born on the lower edge of the rookery, where the surf breaks over 

 them occasionally, learn to swim early, but the larger portion of them 

 do not take to the water until later, and many have to be forced in by 

 the parent.* Once in, however, they soon love to sport in it. The 

 young are taught to swim by the old males on their return from 

 feeding. 



By the last of October the seals begin to leave the islands in small 

 companies, the males going last and by themselves. In November the 



member, the sea elephant ( Macrorhinus elephantinus ), to the two above-named fami- 

 lies. By some of the old writers the sea elephant was said to feed sparingly, at this 

 time, on the grasses and sea-weeds that grew in the vicinity of its breeding-places, out 

 the weight of the evidence in respect to this point seems to indicate that this species 

 fasts similarly to the eared seals and walruses, during the period it resorts to the land to 

 bring forth its young. Regarding the period of abstinence of the sea elephants and its 

 effect upon the animals, Weddel observes as follows: "The circumstance of these 

 animals living on shore for a period not less than two months, apparently without taking 

 food of any description, may certainly be considered a remarkable phenomenon in 

 natural economy. That they live by absorption is evident; that is, by consuming the 

 substance of their own bodies; because, when they come first on shore they are ex- 

 cessively fat, and when they return to the sea they are very lean" ( Voyage toicards 

 the South Pole, p. 136). 



It may be that other species of the earless seals undergo similar fasts, but if so I have 

 ■ en ii rd of the fact. — j. a. a. 



* A dislik ' fear of the water on the part of the young of other species of fur and 



hair seals has been reported by other observers. — J. a. a. 



