1 8 Southern Cross. 



for this information, lias kindly sent me a sketch of the teeth of 

 this specimen, which places its identity beyond question. 



Synonymy. — This calls for but little notice. The generic terms 

 Lcptonyx and Stcnorhynchus being preoccupied, must be succeeded by 

 Lcptonycliotes, which is nearly twenty years older than PoccilopJioca. 



History and Distribviion. — The first examples of this Seal seem 

 to have been brought home by Captain James Weddell from tlie 

 South Orkneys, where several of them were killed on tlie 15 th of 

 January, 1823 (pp. 22 and 24). As already stated, a specimen was 

 deposited in the old Museum of the Edinburgh University, and 

 was recognised by Professor Jameson as representing a new species 

 *' to be referred to the division Stenorhin(|ue of F. Cuvier," but 



FEMALE AND YOUNU UF WEUUELI. ci SEAl,. 

 {By permission of Sir George Newnes, Bart.) 



with the teeth not quite in agreement " with those of his Phoque 

 Septonyx (sic), nor with those of Sir E. Home, figured in pi. xxix. 

 of the Philosophical Transactions for 1822." Again, in writing of 

 the South Shetlands, Weddell states (p. 124), that "some Sea-Leopards 

 have also been seen." At page 24 of the same work is printed a 

 brief description of the new Seal by Professor Jameson, who, however, 

 did not apply to it a Latin name, but contented himself with styling 

 it the " leopardine seal." The description is in many respects vague. 

 The teeth are neither figured nor described, and the sketch, " drawn 

 from nature " by Weddell himself, is extremely fanciful. It is not 

 then surprising that Lesson, who saw an opportunity of describing 

 the new species under the name of Otaria weddellii, should have 

 been completely deceived as to its true nature. Lesson's description 



