THE CRAB-EATING SEAL. 39 



The following table gives measurements, taken in the flesh, of specimens collected 

 by Dr. Davidson, on the ' Morning ' : 



Nose to Greatest Length of Breadth of Length of Spread of 



Sex. tail, girth, foreflipper, foreflipper, hindflippor, hindflipper, 



in inches. in inches. in inches. in inches. in inches. in inches. 



No. 59 $ 80 53 16 11 18 20 



63 ? 93 56J 16 11 16 18J 



61 ,J 91 55 18 13 17 25 



,, 58 <J 82 57 17 9 17 16J 



57 <J 87 55 16 10 17| 23 



76 <J 95 56 18 9J 18f 18 



,,7 $ 89 54J 17J 9 17 J 21 



15 $ 84 50} 16 9 17" 17 



Lobodon carcinophagus, far more than any other Antarctic seal, presents in 

 its skin the scars and wounds which have drawn the attention of naturalists for 

 many years. They have proved a fertile source of discussion and speculation, not 

 only on account of their scientific interest, but because the commercial value of 

 such scarred skins is much reduced. It is certainly true that the greater number 

 of Lobodon skins taken in the Antarctic ice are damaged by long rents. These 

 may present themselves as freshly inflicted wounds, deep and gaping through skin 

 and blubber to the flesh, or as shining white scars formed by the healing of such 

 wounds. 



: ' Half the pack seals are worthless from scarring. Scars frequently running 

 parallel up to twelve inches long and about one inch apart, chiefly on the sides 

 and lower parts of the body." Thus Mr. Bull, whose interest in the voyage 

 of the ' Antarctic ' was largely a commercial one. He suggests, further, that 

 the Iceland ground sharks may have some Antarctic counterpart in an animal 

 with similar habits, and were it not that the abundance of Orca gladiator in 

 the South makes such a surmise hardly necessary, the suggestion would be a 

 good one. 



Captain Jensen, too, whose interests were also to some extent commercial, has 

 remarked upon the fact, saying that many of the " Grey Seals " taken were more or less 

 cut up with scars and wounds in the skin. 



Captain Kristensen thinks that the wounds are made by a sword-bearing animal. 

 It is well, therefore, in the light of these suggestions to examine carefully the nature 

 of the wounds that are so commonly found on the Antarctic seals, not one species 

 of the whole number being altogether free, though Lobodon appears to be more subject 

 to them than any other. 



Leptonychotes I have myself seen on one or two rare occasions with large, gaping 

 wounds upon the side, although it is, on the whole, wonderfully free from them. Amongst 

 thirty skins of Leptonychotes in the ' Discovery's ' collection not one can show the typical 

 scars, though many of the males can of course show righting scars, the short and 



