732 



THE CARNIVORES 



itself the creature pitches ahead on its breast, advancing about a foot by the 

 operation. 



THE LEOPARD-SEAL 



SKUI.I, OF LEOPARD-SEAI,. 



Genus Ogmorhinus 



The leopard-seal {Ogmorhinus leptonyx} may be taken as the best-known 



representative of four genera 

 confined to the Southern 

 and Antarctic seas, and 

 each containing but a single 

 species. These seals differ 

 from the monk - seal by cer- 

 tain characteristics of their 

 skulls, and are likewise dis- 

 tinguished from that species 

 and from one another by the 

 form of their cheek-teeth. 

 The leopard-seal or, as it is often called, the sea-leopard is distinguished by the 

 great length of its skull, and by the cheek-teeth consisting of three large and dis- 

 tinct cusps. The middle and largest of these cusps has its tip slightly inclined back- 

 ward, while the summits of the two smaller cusps are curved toward the middle 

 one. Adult males of this species attain a length of as much as twelve feet. Mose- 

 ley describes these animals as much resembling the common seal in coloration; the 

 short and glossy fur being spotted yellowish white and dark gray on the back, and 

 the under surface of a general yellowish color. The females are usually darker than 

 the males, in which the ground color of the fur is often of a silvery gray. 



The leopard-seal has a wide distribution in the Southern, Temperate, 

 and Antarctic seas, having been recorded from the coasts of New 

 Zealand, Australia, and the adjacent islands, from the Falkland islands, Kerguelen 

 Land, and the shores of Patagonia, and being also found on the pack ice in the 

 Antarctic Ocean. It does not appear to be migratory, and is sometimes found on 

 the ice or on islands in considerable herds. In Kerguelen Land it was still pretty 

 common at the date of the visit of the Challenger, a herd estimated at four hundred 

 in number being reported on one of the small islands adjacent. 



The first of the remaining members of this group is the crab-eating 

 seal (Lobodon cartinophaga) of the Antarctic Ocean. It is of a nearly 

 uniform olive color above, with the sides of the face and the under 

 parts yellowish white, and sometimes a few light-colored spots on the flanks. The 

 cheek-teeth are even more complex than those of the leopard-seal, having one cusp 

 in front of the large main cusp, and from one to three distinct cusps behind the lat- 

 ter. The claws are entirely wanting on the hind-feet. Practically nothing is 

 known of the habits of this species. 



Distribution 



Crab-Eating 

 Seal 



