Extracts fyoiu Diary of Nicola i Hanson. 105 



the skin ami skull and part of the intestines for the collection. To ju(l<j;e 

 l\y the colour it was an exceedingly old animal — white as chalk — and he 

 had not a sound tooth in his jaws. In the skin there was a numljer of 

 large scars, but all old. The peritoneum was full of innumerable small, 

 black, hard tumours, as big as shot of all sizes. What has brought this 

 old Seal on shore? To judge by his tracks he has stayed there several 

 days. He was presumably ill, as he was very lean — with only about 

 half an inch of fat. Perhaps this is a solution of the question, as to 

 where all the dead Seals come from, which I have found scattered about on 

 the point here, and in the guano. Perhaps this is a burial-place for old 

 Seals, and they crawl on land here to die. If this is so, my first suppo- 

 sition that all the Seal-mummies are due to its being a breeding-place 

 for the White Seal is thereby knocked on the head. But this does not 

 decrease the interest of my last conjecture — if there is anything in it. 



September IQfh. — Yesterday, Fougner and Ole and Evans were away 

 to fetch a boat ; they found a dead White Seal which the dogs had 

 killed. The skin was torn and spoilt, so they brought only the head. 

 They had seen one Weddell's Seal, but did not kill it. To-day Evans 

 went out on the ice to look for White Seals. He was away for five hours, 

 but saw only one Leptonychotes, which he killed. It was a small male, 

 only six feet long ; the skin went into my collection. He also saw some 

 P. nivea. He found a little Penguin lying dead far in on the ice, killed by 

 the dogs. 



September 'lith. — Evans was away after Seals and killed two White 

 Seals, but no sign of young, either born or unborn. 



\Note by Mr. Anton Hanson. — With the 24th September ends my son's 

 private Diary. Three weeks afterwards, on the 14th October, 1899, 

 he died. May he rest in Peace !] 



P.S. — Four species of Seals brought home by the ' Southern Cross ' 

 have been identified, but it would almost seem as if more than this 

 number were procured by Mr. Hanson. On the 31st of December and 

 on several subsequent days he speaks of the " White Seal." On the last- 

 named day he killed a " Leopard Seal," and again, on the 2nd and 4th of 

 January, specimens were procured of the latter species. On the 6th, he 

 procured a Seal like the others he had shot, but with a diffei'ent cranium. 



On the 10th of January he killed two young female seals, "one of a 

 new species which I have not seen before." On the 14th one of the 

 same kind was killed by Lieut. Colbeck, and another was obtained by 

 himself on the 16th; so that, up to this date, he would seem to have 

 obtained four species. 



On the 21st he killed his first Ross's Seal, his second on the 24th, his 

 third on the 28th, and a fourth on the 3rd of February. Thus all the 

 four skins brought to the Museum are accounted for. 



On February 9th and 11th Sea-Leopards were again procured. 



On landing at Cape Adare, Hanson killed sixteen Seals of a kind not 

 seen before \_= L. iceddeUf\. 



This apparently makes a total of sic kinds of Seals recognised as 

 different by the zoologist to the expedition. — R.B.S. 



