Mammalia. 37 



but no exact locality is attached to the specimens which he brought 

 home, apart from that mentioned in the statement appended to tlie 

 type of Owen's Stenorhyncluis serridens. 



The species, although often reported and no doubt frequently 

 killed by sealers, has been hitherto very poorly represented in 

 museums. No scientific account of its habits has yet been written. 



Distribution. — Most of the later expeditions, whether to the 

 neighbourhood of Victoria or Graham Land, have met with Lohodon. 

 It is, therefore, probable that it is also found on the pack-ice of the 

 intermediate localities all round the circle. That it may sometimes 

 stray to quite a distance from the Antarctic pack-ice is shown by the 

 record by Mr. C. Berg of the capture of a specimen, now in the 

 La Plata Museum, near San Sidro, north of Buenos Aires, in latitude 

 34" 28' South. 



Hcibits. — Until quite recent years, our only information regarding 

 the liabits of this Seal was that conveyed by its specific name, namely 

 that it feeds on crustaceans of some sort. 



Mr. Bruce seems to have missed a great opportunity of dis- 

 tinguishing the various Antarctic Seals by their habits, but his notes 

 can only be read as applying to all four, with the single exception of 

 his remark that the " creamy white seals," as he calls this species, 

 were, with what he supposed to be Eoss's Seal, in greatest abundance ; 

 there lay four, five, or even ten on a single piece of pack-ice ; the 

 greatest number he saw on one piece of ice at a time was forty-seven. 



Most interesting is the graphic, although short, account of 

 Dr. Bacovit^a, who states (thus corroborating Mr. Bruce), that 

 the Belgian Expedition found Lohodon the most frequent species 

 on the pack-ice. It was also present with Lcptonychotes in the 

 Straits of Gerlache, in the Palmer Archipelago. On being approached 

 it showed a great anxiety to make its visitors acquainted with its 

 dental armature, displaying its teeth, and, in the words of Dr. 

 Eacovitza, " en soufflant violemment par les narines." The young, 

 which when born are already of a considerable size, make their 

 appearance on the pack-ice in September. Their first coat is thicker 

 than that of their parents. The mother suckles her offspring for 

 some days, and afterwards leaves it to look out for itself. 



Dr. Eacovitza's most interesting account of the feeding of this 

 seal has already been quoted,^ as well as my suggestion as to the 

 supposed use of the extraordinarily cusped teeth. 



Based upon specimens from a quite different region, Mr. Nicolai 



^ See page 14. 



