34 Sonf/icni Cross. 



invpsti^mtions, it is unsafe to attempt to guess the sex of any skull 

 (if this St«al. 



Wli.'ilicr, hnwevcr, the larger skulls be those of males or of 

 fomalcH, theix! are, as in tlie case of Lohodon, so many specimens of 

 intorme<lintc proportions that the detenniiiation of the sex they 

 n-pn-si-nt must always be a matter of difficulty. It can only be 

 supjMist'd that, as in tlie case of the male of Otaria ursina and 

 (KjuJiatti, the size and development of the larger sex of the Leopard 

 S«'al are exceedingly variable characters. 



Aijc. — As might have been expected, the cheek-teeth of this 

 species show, in a far more marked degree than those of the other 

 thn'o Antarctic Seals, the effects of use and wear. But although 

 there is a very great difference between the clean and unworn teeth 

 of .some specimens, and tlie worn teeth of others, it is strange that 

 tljose of the largest specimens which I have examined are clean 

 and unworn. In young individuals the cheek-teeth are much 

 cniwdetl. 



Ill some specimens the sagittal crest is prominently developed : 

 the largest which I have measured reached a height of twelve milli- 

 metres. In all the lambdoid crest is lame. 



Iiulinthud variation. — Conspicuous individual variations in the 

 skulls of tliis species seem to be rare. It may be worth placing on 

 re«nnl that the posterior margin of the palate of No. 325c? of the 

 British Museum Collection is formed as a crescent and not as 

 a Y as in all the other specimens. This variation is said to be 

 lanillelcd in the case of a single specimen (No. 1095), which 

 forms part of the collection in the Pioyal College of Surgeons of 

 London. 



T"**///.— The massive teeth and prominent crests at once stamp 

 inr Ix'oi)ard-Seal as distinct from the other three Antarctic species, 

 and .k-monstrate, as I liave already aj-gued, that the dentition is 

 a.!:iM.-d to a different kind of food. 



, /o«._The skeleton has been fully described by Sir William 

 I urner, who used it for comparison in his detailed description of that 

 of Uptunijdiotcs (sec Table II, pp. 32, 33). 



