Mammalia. 27 



Museum. It formed the subject of the inaccurate figure in the 

 ' Ossemens Fossiles ' which was afterwards copied in Hamilton's 

 work on Seals. 



On referring to the Catalogue of the specimens in the museum of 

 the Eoyal College of Surgeons, I found that, whereas a mutilated 

 skull, No. 1096 (of the history of which no details are given) is 

 stated to have been " presented by Thomas Chevalier, Esq., 1814," 

 another skull, No. 1091, "from the Island of New Georgia" and 

 " presented by William Kearn, Esq.," is described as " the original 

 of Mr. Clift's figure, published in Home's paper . . . and in his 

 ' Lectures on Comparative Anatomy,' vol. iv., pi. 20." There seemed 

 therefore to be room for some doubt as to the exact identity of the 

 type or typical specimens, a doubt to which Allen's statement 

 (p. 441) that de Blainville's descriptions of the species were " both 

 based on specimens in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons 

 of London " may probably be attributed. 



It is gratifying to find that the matter can now be cleared up. 

 Professor Stewart, to whom I wrote for information on the subject, 

 tells me that " the skull 1091 is without doubt that figured in the 

 Phil. Trans, for 1822." In the copy of these ' Transactions ' kept at 

 the museum of the Eoyal College of Surgeons there are two 

 marginal notes, written in pencil, signed W. C, and, according to 

 Professor Stewart, in Clift's handwriting. These are to the effect 

 that Mr. Chevalier did not know whence came the specimen 

 No. 1096 : it was the other skull. No. 1091, which was brought by 

 Mr. Kearn. It is evident that the information given with the figure 

 in the ' Transactions ' is inaccurate, being a mixture of the history of 

 the two specimens. 



These two skulls for long remained the sole representatives of 

 their species in museums, but most of the later explorers in the 

 Antarctic seem to have met with the Leopard- Seal, and several 

 skulls have reached this country. It is, at the present time, 

 probably the best known species inhabiting Antarctic waters. 



Distribution. — There can be no doubt that the True Leopard-Seal 

 is widely distributed in the South Polar regions. It has, moreover, 

 been found in more northern regions than either of the remaining 

 three species. Besides the localities (New Georgia and the Falkland 

 Islands) whence came the type specimens, there is an example in the 

 British Museum from Lord Howe Island, another in the Anatomical 

 Museum of the University of Edinburgh, presented by Sir James 

 Hector, from Wellington Harbour, New Zealand (c/. Turner, p. 20) ; 

 while the museum of the Eoyal College of Surgeons contains 



