11.] ANTARCTIC FAUNA 359 



brownish grey above, and lighter below, with the chin and throat 

 in some quite pale, in others black, and a number of paler streaks 

 pass obliquely backwards along the sides of the neck to the hinder 

 third of the body. 



This seal has the most astonishing power of withdrawing its head 

 within the blubber-laden skin of the neck till its face is almost lost. 

 Its vocal powers have been well described by M. Racovitzi, of the 

 ' Belgica.' As the Weddell seal, so far as our own observations 

 go, has vocal accomplishments of even a higher order than the 

 Ross, I will reserve my description of them till we come to deal 

 with the species later on. 



Until the return of the recent Argentine Expedition no young 

 Ross seal had ever been discovered. The precise age of the one 

 brought home by that expedition has not yet transpired. It is 

 likely, however, that the skull may throw fresh light upon an 

 interesting question in this connection — namely, the relationship 

 which apparently exists, and has been before this suggested by 

 Captain Barrett Hamilton, between the Oinmatophoca and the 

 more Northern forms Cystophora and Macrorhi7ius. 



The teeth of Ross's seal are still a puzzling problem. It is 

 obvious that the post canines are in process of disappearing, for in 

 those cases in which they have not already gone they are as 

 often as not quite loose and ready to drop out. The canines and 

 incisors alone have been properly developed into needle-pomted, 

 recurved hooks for dealing with such slippery prey as jelly-fish and 

 squids, which apparently form their food. 



There is now only one more form of seal to be described, and 

 to ourselves it was the most important of all, for it provided us 

 with a fresh meat diet in abundance during the greater part of our 

 sojourn in the ice. The Weddell seal is the most sluggish of all, 

 and is to be found only along the coastline. It herds together in 

 a manner which must be considered thoroughly gregarious. In 

 the breeding season, which occupies October and November, 

 there are colonies at the head of bights and bays in the fast and 

 unbroken ice, which number in some cases many hundreds of seals, 

 scattered often over a very vast area, along a crack which runs 

 perhaps for miles across the strait or bay. 



The Weddell seal avoids the pack-ice of the open sea, and so 

 avoids the attentions of the Killer whale, and can procure its food, 

 which consists of fish, without either fear or molestation. 



The wisdom of this course is obvious, and accounts for the 



