38 Southern Cross. 



Hanson's notes on this species should have been of considerable 

 value, especially as he was instructed, at the " special request " of 

 Mr. Borchgrevink, to make " as good a study of this interesting species 

 as time, specimens, and opportunity allowed." This Mr. Hanson 

 seems to have done, according to the verbal testimony of his 

 colleagues of the scientific staff of the ' Southern Cross ' ; but the 

 sole information relating to the animal brought home by the Expedi- 

 tion is the statement by Mr. Borchgrevink that it was found in 

 greater numbers than in 1894, and that it was not so well represented 

 as Weddell's Seal. Mr. Borchgrevink had expected to find the White 

 Seal breeding in Kobertson Bay, but this was not the case, although 

 both the Leopard-Seal and Weddell's Seal bred in that locality.^ 

 According to Mr. Bull,^ this Seal is particularly afflicted with the 

 scars which have been alluded to above. 



External appearance, — Externally the Crab-eating Seal would 

 appear to be the most conspicuous Antarctic species, as the names 

 applied to it by the various explorers indicate. Thus Mr. Bruce 

 calls it " the Creamy White Seal," Mr. Borchgrevink styles it " the 

 characteristic white seal of the Antarctic," and Mr. Bull writes of it 

 as " the whitish-yellow or light grey Seal which goes under the name 

 of the White Antarctic Seal, though it is never found of such 

 whiteness that it cannot readily be distinguished on the ice-floes " 

 {op. cit. p. 139). Yet, beyond the fact that it is, at all ages, of far 

 lighter coloration than any of the other three species, we are as yet 

 in some doubt as to its exact hues and their arrangement — a doubt 

 which can only be dispelled when a detailed description of the animal, 

 taken from specimens still in the flesh by a competent naturalist, 

 shall be forthcoming. Meanwhile, it may be well to compare the 

 various descriptions which have reached us. The original was as 

 follows : — " Pelage brun olive, parseme ga, et la, en dessus, aussi bien 

 qu'en dessous, de grandes plaques de couleur jaunatre," a description 

 borne out by the plate (No. 10), in which, however, the animal is 

 represented as having the nose white. Mr. Bruce, on the other 

 hand, writes of "a darker dorsal stripe," contrasted with the "creamy 

 white " general body colour. The skins of all ages, collected by the 

 ' Belgica' are nearly white, with only indistinct traces of mottling. 

 In life they were, once more to quote Dr. Eacovitza, " d'un blanc 

 pelucheux a reflet verdatre." Lastly, the skins brought home 

 by the ' Southern Cross ' show, as far as I could ascertain from an 

 examination of them while in salt, a considerable indication of 



* Oeographical Journal, October 1900, p. iOo. 

 ^ Op. cit. p. 139. 



