I02 Sottthcrn Cross. 



The skin we bi'ouglit home measui'ed eight feet five and a half inches 

 in length and six feet round behind the fore flippers. 



June 14</i. — Nothing to do and nothing done. We intended to take 

 a trip to the iceberg where on the 9th saw so many Seals, to look 

 for some addition to my collection ; but the sky has not been so clear 

 in the middle of the day that we could go without lanterns, and under 

 such circumstances the chances for collecting anything were very small. 

 We therefore decided to put off the trip to a more favourable day. 

 I hope it will not be for long, for the want of having something to do often 

 becomes very depressing. 



June 17th. — Colbeck saw a Pagodroma nivea this morning. It came 

 close to him when he was reading off the thermometers. 



June 24:th. — Four of us went for a walk on the ice looking for Seal for 

 food for the dogs. Fortune favoured us, and we killed three large 

 animals. The only thing of zoological interest on this trip was that we 

 observed an immense number of Leptonychotes. Those we killed were two 

 males and one female. Strangely enough this last had no embryo, 

 although it was a full-gi'own animal. 



June 2St]i. — Went out for a walk and to look for Seals and specimens 

 for the collection. Everywhere on the ice we found " blow-holes," but 

 the Seals were all driven into the water by the number of dogs which, 

 much against our wish, accompanied us and coui'sed all over the ice. I 

 can note as a fact of zoological interest that we found several " Seal 

 caves" in the ice, where the Seal crawls in when the ice and weather 

 is such that they do not care to be exposed to it. By the iceberg where 

 I before killed the White Seal there were also now a number of Seals, 

 but they all kept under the ice, so I got none. 



June 30th. — On the ice I found by the same hole I passed yesterday a 

 large Seal, and to judge by its circumference, it appeared to be worth 

 including in my collection ; when I returned to camp I therefore sent Ole 

 away to kill it. He brought me an embryo about two feet long, which 

 was well developed, and appeared to be more than half grown. To judge by 

 the embryos I have now collected, the pairing season should be February 

 and the breeding season September. The placenta, which in the Seals 

 lies like a belt round the embryo was, in the one I got to-day, seven inches 

 broad. The Seal was a Leptonychotes weddelli. 



July 8th. — To-day we killed two large Weddell's Seals, male and 

 female, but there was no embryo in this last. They were uncommonly 

 fat, with five to six inches of blubber where it was thickest. 



July 15th. — Alongside of this iceberg there was a large seal-hole 

 where we observed some Seals, both Lobodon and Leptonychotes. Some of 

 them were very large animals. To judge from the different colouring of 

 the hair, I believe I saw White Seals in three stages of fur. The colour 

 varied rom greyish-brown, with darker spots on the fore and hind parts. 

 The apparently oldest of them was dazzling white, without spots. This 

 last, which was the only one of its colour in this hole, was an uncommonly 

 large animal. 



July 17th. — The Finns killed a large female Leptonychotes, without 

 embryo. 



July 23rd. — From his trip Borchgrevink brought back with him a 

 craniuna of Lobodon, which they killed last night. 



