378 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



evidently the leopard seal. Throughout January 1933 leopard seal were commonly seen 

 swimming about in bays on the southern side of the group. In Wilton Bay alone above 

 forty were seen and nearly as many more in Sandefjord Bay. These are exceptionally 

 large numbers for an animal which as a rule is encountered only singly. The total number 

 in the neighbourhood of the islands is thought to have been a fairly large one, how 

 large it is difficult to say, since only a few of the bays, in which the seal appear to have 

 been plentiful, were searched closely for them. Surprisingly few were encountered out 

 of the water. One was seen on a rock and two on a fragment of glacier-ice in Wilton Bay, 

 while a few were hauled out in Paal Harbour and on the fast-ice in Falkland Harbour. 

 The leopard seal was seen once or twice in late winter by the Scottish expedition.^ 

 It is not known if the leopard seal breeds on the South Orkneys. All that were seen 

 during our recent visit appeared to be adult. On November 19, 1903, a young leopard 

 was seen by W. S. Bruce on Point Thomson in Brown Bay.^ At South Georgia 

 Matthews^ records that the mothers come ashore to give birth, the young being born in 

 late August and early September. 



Crab-eater Seal {Lobodon carcinophagiis , Jaquinot & Pucheran) 



The crab-eater is rarely seen on the South Orkneys. It was recorded by Larsen on the 

 north coast of Laurie Island in November 1892 (see p. 318) and in very small number 

 by the Scottish expedition in the summer of 1903-4.* It was occasionally seen, also by 

 this expedition, in the winter of 1903.^ Two only were seen in January 1933, one on a 

 rocky ledge on Christoffersen Island, the other in Falkland Harbour. Both were adult. 



Ross Seal {Ommatophoca rossi, Gray) 



The Ross seal, the rarest of all the Antarctic Pinnipedia, has been observed on a 

 number of occasions at or not far away from the South Orkneys.^ One was shot in the 

 pack on February 6, 1903, in 60° 10' S, 42° 38' W. One was seen at Scotia Bay in the 

 summer of 1903-4. In 1904, between March 27 and April 26, three more were seen in 

 Scotia Bay, two of them ashore. In December of that year a young one was killed near 

 Cape Burn Murdoch ; it was thought to be about six weeks old and to have been born 

 on the pack. Three more were captured in 1907.^ The Ross seal was not seen in winter 

 either by the Scottish expedition or the first Argentine meteorological staff. 



1 The Voyage of the 'Scotia', p. 122. 



2 Brown, R. N. Rudmose, 1913, loc. cit., supra, p. 192. 

 ^ Matthews, L. H., 1929, loc. cit., pp. 253-4. 



* The Voyage of the 'Scotia', p. 228. 



^ Ibid., p. 122. 



6 Ibid., pp. 56, 122, 228, 320, 321, 327, 350. 



' Mossman, R. C, 1908, The South Orkneys in 1907, Scott. Geog, Mag., xxiv. No. vn, p. 354. 



