46 Southern Cross. 



OMMATOPHOCA. 



Ommatophoca, J. E. Gray, Zool. Voy. ' Erebus ' and ' Terror,^ p. 7, 1844 ; Barrett- 

 Hamilton, Antarctic Manual, p. 221 (IDOI). Type Ommatophoca rossi. 



Ommatophora (misprint for Ommatophoca), Turner, P. Zool. Soc, 1848, p. 88. 



OMMATOPHOCA ROSSI.— Boss's Seal. 



Ommatophoca rossii, J. E. Gray, Zool. Voy. ^Erebus ' and ' Terror,'' pp. 7-8, 

 pis. vii. & viii. 1844; Cat. of Bones of Mammalia, Brit. Mus, p. 142, 1862; Cat. 

 Seals, Brit. Mus. pp. 13 to 15, 1866; List of the Seals, &c. Brit. Mus. 

 p. 15, 1874; T. Gill, Prodrome of a Monograph of the Pinnipedes, Comm. 

 Essex Institute, p. 6, July 1866; Allen, Hist. N. Amer. Pinnipeds, p. 467 

 (see also pp. 413, 414, 416, 419, 420, 449, 451, 453, 458, 459 & 463), 1880; 

 Turner, Piep. Seals, Voy. ' Challenger^ in the years 1873-76, pp. 65-66, 1888; 

 Bateson, P. Z. S. 1892, pp. 106-7 to 114-15, 1894, pp. 237-238 ; W. Kiikenthal, 

 Denkschr. Medic. Natur. Gesellsch. Jena, iii. p. 443, 1893, & Jenaischen 

 Zeitschrift, xxviii. Bd. N. F. xxi. p. 115, 1893; E. G. Racovitza, La Vie des 

 animaux et des plantes dans I'Antarctique, p. 30, 1900 ; Bernacchi, To the 

 South Polar Regions, pp. 44, 45, 1901 (photo.). 



" New (Species of) Seal discovered January 21, 1899 " (with figure). Sir George 

 Newnes, Strand Magazine, September 1899, pp. 283 & 284; Bcrchgrevink, 

 Geogr. Journ. October 1900, p. 403. 



"Piossii," Borchgrevink, First on the Antarctic Continent, pp. 74, 103, 1901 

 (figs, of skull, upper and lower aspect). 



Ti/2)e.—No. 43.11.25.4 (324a) of the British Museum collection. 



The synomjmy of this species presents no difficulties. 



History. — For the first description of this Seal, as also of Lohodou 

 and Lcptonychotc8, we are indebted to Dr. J. E. Gray. Until the return 

 of the ' Belgica ' from her imprisonment in the Antarctic pack-ice our 

 knowledge of Eoss's Seal was of the most slender description. The 

 first known specimens were those brought home by Sir James Eoss 

 from an unknown locality in the South Polar regions. These, a 

 skin and two skulls, for many years remained the unique representa- 

 tives of their race in Europe, if not in the world. I am indebted to 

 Professor D'Arcy W. Thompson for the information that a skin and 

 skull of this rare species were presented to the Town Museum of 

 Dundee, but that the skull seems to have been lost, and its where- 

 abouts cannot be traced. No specimens, therefore, of those brought 

 home by the ' Belgica ' and ' Southern Cross ' could exceed in value 

 those of Eoss's Seal. 



The first naturalist to lay claim to the rediscovery of Eoss's Seal 

 was Mr. W. S. Bruce, who states that the " Mottled Grey Seal," as he 

 calls it, was with the Crab-Eating Seal "in greatest abundance" on 

 the pack-ice. " They were usually associated with the Creamy-White 

 Seals (Lohodon) on the pack, and I found many to be with young." 



