THE CRAB-EATING SEAL. 37 



quite a common thing to find grains of sand and grit wedged in immovably- between 

 them, they are very rarely broken. If in extreme old age a seaweed diet is preferred, it 

 is possible that in wrenching this from the rocks upon which it grows, the teeth might 

 show some such effect in wear, though one thing is certain, that in the great majority 

 of adult skulls there is hardly any sign of wear at all. Occasionally the remains 

 of some small fish are found in the stomach of this seal mixed up with the Euphausice, 

 but the latter form its diet in the main, and, measuring up to half an inch or more, 

 may often be found undamaged in the contents of the stomach. The pigment of this 

 schizopod is passed unaltered in colour in the excreta, colouring them brick red. It 

 surprised us not a little, after reading that the stomachs of all the seals which 

 Mr. Borchgrevink saw captured in the pack were empty, to find that the stomachs of 

 those we captured, in the same month, and in the same state of partial moult, were 

 replete with food. The moulting Crab-eater neither shuns water nor prefers to starve 

 while his coat is being shed (see Author's notes in ' Southern Cross ' Report), and the 

 discrepancy between our respective observations must have been accidental. 



The moult of Lobodon, which occurs in January and February, follows a regular 

 course, beginning, as in Weddell's Seal, on the limbs both hind and fore, and 

 spreading in a line from the head to the tail, mid-dorsally. From this it spreads down 

 the sides, and also from the belly, the sides often retaining some old bleached hair for a 

 considerable time. The change in colour resulting from the moult varies a good deal, 

 not according to the sex, but according to the age of the individual. Young adult 

 Crab-eaters, when freshly moulted, are very handsome animals, for their hair is 

 unusually silvery, not white, but grey, and the ring-marks which appear very 

 constantly on the flanks, shoulders, and sides of the head are of a rich chocolate brown 

 colour. One example was brought home from Cape Adare by the ' Southern Cross ' 

 Expedition, which represented the stage of transition from the natal moult. Before it 

 was tanned it had a good deal of the long whitish wool that characterises the infant at 

 birth, as in the example which was procured by the ' Belgica ' Expedition. This fur 

 was lost, unfortunately, in the tanning process, as it was actually being moulted 

 when the seal was killed, and the coat which appeared beneath showed only the usual 

 mottling of the young adult. 



This mottling is a very variable feature even in the unweathered phase which 

 immediately follows the moult. As a whole the hair is silky and of a warm brownish 

 grey, darker mid-dorsally, silvery white ventrally, and ring-marked with a rich warm 

 brown. The ground colour, so to speak, of the whole animal is this dark brown, and 

 upon it the silver grey may be considered to have been developed in the shape of oval 

 spots, but to so great an extent that the spots are confluent over the whole body, 

 except on the flanks, shoulders, sides of upper neck or head, and to a very variable 

 extent over the remainder of the body. In one specimen, which unfortunately was 

 not procured, as also in No. 19 of the ' Discovery' collection, the white spots are not 

 altogether confluent on any part of the body, the result being a beautifully spotted seal. 



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