356 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Apfx. 



Sea Leopard {S tenor hynchus leptonyx) and the Sea Elephant 

 {Macrorhmiis leoninus), the former is constantly to be found in 

 the pack ice, though it wanders more or less freely to the shores 

 of all the Southern ocean continents and islands. 



But the Sea Elephant has not the same right to be included 

 in the Antarctic list as the others, since his occurrence there is 

 almost certainly accidental, just as the occasional occurrence of 

 the Weddell seal in Kerguelen Island and the river Santa Cruz 

 must also be considered as purely accidental. The Crab-eater 

 also has been reported twice from Australia, both accidental 

 occurrences of a typical Antarctic species in temperate regions, 

 and to be explained by the fact that large masses of ice drift 

 up into more northern waters from the south, no doubt very 

 often with seals upon them. It is less easy to account for the 

 appearance of the Sea Elephant so far south as latitude 7J° 50', 

 in McMurdo Strait, for the animal must have traversed some 

 hundreds of miles of open sea against the prevailing winds and 

 ocean currents. 



That seals do travel long distances by sea is obvious, and a 

 fact well known to sealers, but it is curious to find one so far from 

 its usual home as this. The headquarters of the Sea Elephant are 

 the Macquarie, Kerguelen, and other islands of the Southern 

 oceans, as well as the coast of California. 



The one Sea Elephant which fell to our lot in the Antarctic 

 was a young male of eleven feet in length and a girth of no less 

 than eight feet under the fore flippers. He was the only example 

 seen, and was discovered as he lay asleep on a sandy beach at Cape 

 Royds. The stomach itself was empty of food, as also were the 

 intestines, which were contracted into firm, hard cords, and con- 

 tained only a few threadworms ; yet the seal was heavily 

 blubbered, having upwards of two inches of fat under the skin all 

 over. The Sea Elephant, as we had the opportunity of seeing also 

 on the Macquarie Islands, uses his fore flippers much more as do 

 the Eared seals than the Earless, both for support and for pro- 

 gression. The colour of the beast is a uniform dirty yellowish 

 grey, somewhat darker along the back than underneath, and 

 without either spots or streaks ; the head is enormous. The lion- 

 like breadth of the flattened muzzle, the wide gape of the mouth 

 showing a huge pink cavern, with massive canines, the immensity 

 of the neck and shoulders raised high on the fore flippers, the very 

 large brown eyes, and the protruding nostrils, all combine to give a 



