2 Southern Cross. 



carcinojjJiai/Ks), Weddell's Seal, or the False Leopard-Seal {Lei^tony- 

 chotes vxdddli), the True Leopard-Seal {Ogniorldnm Uyptomjx), and 

 Koss's Seal (Ommatophoca rossi). All these are at home on the 

 pack-ice of the extreme South I'olar regions, probably at all portions 

 of this area, a region where neither the Elephant-Seal nor any 

 species of Eared Seal are known to exist. Three of them are not 

 confined to the pack-ice, but have been found elsewhere ; the single 

 exception being Ross's Seal. No other mammal has ever been 

 brought from the Antarctic, and it is highly unlikely, in spite of 

 certain statements to the contrary, that any remarkably new form 

 of mammalian life, at least among the Pinnipeds, remains to be 

 discovered. 



Of the above-mentioned four species the earliest to attract the 

 attention of Zoologists, and perhaps the best known to science at the 

 present day, is the Leopard-Seal, a species which was first recognised 

 as distinct by De Blainville in 1820. In 1822 appeared the first 

 notice of Weddell's Seal in the shape of a short description by 

 Professor Jameson in ' Weddell's Voyage to the South Pole,' to be 

 followed by its correct description in binominal terms by Lesson in 

 1826. Next in order comes the Crab-eating Seal, discovered by the 

 French expedition of 1837-1840. This species formed the subject of 

 two plates in Jacquinot's and Pucheran's 'Atlas,' published some 

 time between 1842 and 1844. Lastly, Ross's Seal was discovered 

 by Sir James Clark Ross during his voyage of 1839-1843, and was 

 described by Dr. J. E. Gray in his account of the ' Zoology of the 

 Voyage of H.M.S. " Urelms" and " Terror;' ' published in 1844. Sir 

 James Ross's expedition obtained specimens of each of the four species, 

 and accordingly Gray's work became, and still remains, the standard 

 description of them all. It contains in fact the first written descrip- 

 tion of the Crab-eating Seal and of Ross's Seal, and the first 

 intelligible description of Weddell's Seal. 



From 1844 until the nineties, practically no specimens, except 

 those brought home by sealers, reached our museums ; and even the 

 ' Challewjcrs ' share of the spoil, although fortunately described by 

 Sir William Turner in 1888, was meagre enough. 



It is not surprising then, that while we actually knew nothing 

 of the appearance and habits of any of the four species, two of them 

 (Weddell's and Ross's Seals) might, until a year or two ago, have 

 claimed, and claimed justly, to be considered amongst the rarest and 

 most obscurely known of all Mammals. Of the latter species, in fact, 

 only the two original specimens were known to exist. A third skin, 

 the skull once attached to which has disappeared, is preserved, as Prof. 



