67 



II. 



NOTES ON ANTAKCTIC SEALS. 



COLLECTED DURING THE EXPEDITION OF 

 THE 'SOUTHERN CROSS: 



By EDWARD A. WILSON, M.B., F.Z.S.^ 



(Plates II.-VI.) 



Owing to the death of Mr. Nicolai Hanson (the zoologist best 

 qualified to have written an account of the Antarctic Seals), the task 

 of describing his specimens has devolved upon one, who though at 

 present unacquainted with these animals in a state of nature, has 

 nevertheless a great interest in the work, from the fact that he shortly 

 hopes to cover the same ground in search of the still (unfortunately) 

 hidden treasures of knowledge concerning the Seals of the Antarctic 



^ Dr. Wilson has sailed as the naturalist on board the ' Discovery.^ Before he 

 left for the Antarctic, he made a special study of the animals known to inhabit the 

 southern seas, and, shortly before his departure, he forwarded to Professor Eay 

 Lankester the notes now published on the Pinnipedia, accompanied by coloured 

 drawings of the Seals taken from the newly-mounted specimens j^resented by Sir 

 George Newnes to the British Museum. These notes are supplementary to the 

 memoir prepared by Captain Barrett- Hamilton, which is an excellent resume of our 

 knowledge of the Seals of the Antarctic. The enforced departure of the latter 

 naturalist for South Africa took place before Sir George Newnes' specimens of the 

 Antarctic Seals had been mounted in the Museum, and he was only able to 

 determine the species of Seals brought home by the 'Southern Cross'' from the 

 skins roughly preserved in brine. A few leaden labels were attached to some of 

 the sj^ecimens, but these had perished in nearly every case, and the two or three 

 which remained on the skins no one was able to decipher. Dr. Wilson managed 

 to identify the characters stamped by Mr. Hanson on the labels which were 

 attached to one or two of the skins, and he was thus able to connect a few of the 

 skulls with the actual specimens to which they belonged. He examined the types 

 of Antarctic Seals in our Museum, and compared with them the specimens brought 

 home by the ' Southern Cross.'' The pictures which form the subject of the plates 

 in the present volume have been lithographed by Mr. H. Gronvold from Dr. Wilson's 

 paintings, and Mr. Bernacchi's photographs of the Seals in life were of great 

 assistance in determining the natural form of the animals. To Dr. Wilson's notes 

 have been added the accounts given by Mr. Bernacchi in his work ' To the South 

 Polar Regions' (pp. 318-320), which give us a good idea of the habits and distribu- 

 tion of the species of Seals met with by the ' Southern Cross ' ; and many interesting 

 records will be found in the private Diary of the late Mr. Nicolai Hanson, jirinted 

 below (pp. 79-105.)— E. R. L. 



F 2 



