6 Sottthern Cross, 



probable that on the pack, in January and February, they are safe 

 from their enemies, whoever they be. It may be that food is then so 

 abundant that there is no need to leave the pack for the purpose 

 of obtaining it, and so the Seals escape exposure to the attacks 

 of their enemies. It may be that those enemies are migratory, 

 as the Killer is said to be, and have already betaken themselves 

 to other regions. At all events the subject is well worthy of 

 further attention. 



Besides his account of the scars observed on the Seals, Mr. Bull's 

 most interesting statement is (for a naturalist) that, while all four 

 species were observed in the pack, they were evidently in no great 

 numbers. The whole catch, in fact, reached only 180 skins. 



Capt. C A. Larsen, of the Norwegian whaler ' Jason' has given us 

 a few notes ^ as the result of his visits to the regions east of Graham 

 Land in 1892-93 and 1893-94. At some places Seals (the species 

 not specified) were found in enormous numbers, especially in 

 localities " where there were plenty of small fishes and shrimps." 

 One hundred and twenty-five Fiskerel killed on December 1st, 1893, 

 are described as being " very big and fat." On December 11th near 

 Christensen Island, " the Seals lay in places so closely packed that 

 we had to make circles in order to advance. It was a delightful 

 sight to see those masses of animals, most of which proved to be 

 youngsters of the Fiskerel, which already had changed hair; they 

 were beautifully fed, and looked like so many balls. Here and there 

 an old animal was amidst the youngsters. The Seals were not a bit 

 afraid of us ; on the contrary, they stretched their flippers towards 

 us as we pelted them. . . . There must have been here abundant 

 food for the Seals, as the ice was everywhere strewn with fishes and 

 fish-bones. When I opened their stomachs, I saw them filled with 

 a fish which has a white flesh, and which we call at home Kvitting 

 (Whiting), and also with sharp bones." 



Like other explorers, Capt. Larsen sometimes found dead Seals. 

 " In one of the valleys," near Cape Seymour, Louis Philippe Land, 

 " many dead Seals were seen, one of which was almost petrified, 

 while others seemed to have come only recently; and there were 

 corpses in which the fat still contained some streaks of blood." 



Dr. Eacovitza, the naturalist of the ' Belgica,' has also published 

 some highly interesting observations on the Seals which he 

 encountered in the pack-ice in the neighbourhood of Palmer Land 

 in the same region. These will be recorded under the heading of 



1 See the Geograjihical Journal, vol. iii., January- J line 1894, pp. 239-33(5 : 

 also vol. iv. pp. 333-344. 



