Mammalia. 3 



D'Arcy W. Thonipsoii has been good enough to inform me, in the 

 Town museum at Dundee. 



Very welcome, then, were the specimens brought back by the 

 ' Belgica' m 1899. Although not numerous, they were excellently 

 preserved and carefully labelled, and in all cases the sex of each 

 specimen had been ascertained. I count it a distinct privilege to 

 have been permitted to describe and study the first scientifically- 

 prepared specimens of Antarctic Seals which have reached Europe. 

 In the ' Bclgica ' collection all four species of Seal were represented, 

 and the four skulls of Weddell's Seal, and the two of lioss's Seal, 

 which formed a part of it, must be regarded as special prizes. 



The present collection, like that of the ' Bdgica,' contains specimens 

 (both skins and skulls) of each species, the greatest rarities being the 

 skins and skulls of Ross's Seal. Weddell's Seal is poorly represented ; 

 of the Leopard-Seal there is one skin and skull, and there are several 

 skins and skulls of Lohodon. It is unfortunate that, owing to the 

 death of Mr. Nicolai Hanson, the Zoologist to the expedition, his 

 notes on the Seals have been lost to science. This, and the fact 

 that the metal labels which had been attached to the specimens have 

 been in nearly all cases corroded through immersion in brine, 

 detract greatly from the importance of what would otherwise have 

 been a most valuable collection. 



Habits, Life-history, &c. — It may be said with truth that 

 until the last decade of the nineteenth century we knew practically 

 nothing of the habits of the Antarctic Seals. During that period, 

 with reviving interest in the exploration of the South Polar regions, 

 several eftbrts were made to supplement our information on these 

 subjects, so that at the present time our knowledge, although far 

 from adequate, is no longer a complete blank. I have thought that, 

 in the present incomplete state of our knowledge, it is better to 

 give in detail the observations of the various naturalists rather than 

 to attempt a summary which, at the best, would need almost 

 immediate revision. 



The Antarctic summer of 1892-93 found the Scottish whalers 

 ' Diana, ^ ' Balaena' and 'Active' in the neighbourhood of Joinville 

 Island and Louis Philippe Land. Mr. W. S. Bruce, who accompanied 

 the ' Balaena ' as naturalist, has given us a few notes on the Seals 

 which he observed. These — although I suspect that his identification 

 may have been in some cases mistaken — are graphically written, and 

 give us a fair picture, in a general way, of the mammalian life of 

 the Antarctic. 



B 2 



