^B Soutlicni Cross. 



ll.ins^Mis notes on ilu- ^iM-cies sluniUl have been of considerable 



^,,1„, irtlly ns he was instructed, at the "special request" of 



Mr. 1 \ ink, to make " a.s j^'ood a study of this interesting species 



.„ X- lU'ns, and oppr.rtunity allowed." This ^Mr. Hanson 



.,, |,jive done, according to tlie verbal testimony of his 

 ..f the scientific stalf of the ' South cm Cross' ; but the 

 sol., inf.innnlinn i-elating to the animal brought lionie by the Expedi- 

 tion is the slnU-ment by Mr. I'.orcligrevink that it was found in 

 ;jn»j«tor ninnK'rs tlian in IS94, and that it was not so well represented 

 o-s WrddelTs St-al. Mr. Borchgrcvink had expected to find the White 

 S«>al l.pH'ding in llobertson 15ay, but this was not the case, altliough 

 Ix.tli the leopard-Seal and Weddell's Seal bred in that locality.^ 

 Avoiding to Mr. I'lull,' this Seal is particularly afflicted with tlie 

 - whicli liave been alluded to above. 



Krternal appearance. — Externally the Crab-eating Seal would 



npi»ear to be the most conspicuous Antarctic species, as the names 



applied to it by the various explorers indicate. Thus ^Mr. Bruce 



chills it "the Creamv White Seal," Mr. Borchgrevink stvles it "the 



cliaracteristic white seal of the Antarctic," and Mr. Bull writes of it 



a* ■■ the wliitisli-yellow or light grey Seal which goes under the name 



ii'- White Antarctic Seal, though it is never found of such 



whiteness that it cannot readily be distinguished on the ice-floes" 



{op. cit. p, 139). Yet, beyond the fact that it is, at all ages, of far 



lighter colomtion than any of the other tliree species, we are as yet 



in some doubt as to its exact hues and their arrangement — a doubt 



\v1itcli can (»nly U^ dispelled when a detailed description of the animal, 



II from specimens still in the flesh by a competent naturalist, 



Hhnll be forthcoming. Meanwhile, it may be well to compare the 



variou.s descriptions wjiieh have reached us. The original was as 



f«»llows:— " IVlage l)run olive, parseme 9a et la, en dessus, aussi bieu 



• !■ "U.S. de grandes i»la(|ues de couleur jaunatre," a description 



u by the plate (Xo. 10), in which, however, the animal is 



• 1 as having the nose white. ^Ir. Bruce, on the other 



■^ "f " a darker dorsal stripe," contrasted with the "creamy 



^1 body colour. The skins of all ages, collected by the 



'.' are nearly white, with only indistinct traces of mottling. 



In lite they were, once more to ([uote Dr. liacovitza, " d'un blanc 



1 ux a reflet verdatre." Lastly, the skins brought home 



"thrni Crosn' show, as far as I could ascertain from an 



evammuLiun of them while in salt, a considerable indication of 



' OtiMjraphical Journal, October 1900, p. 403. 

 * O/-. cil. u. I.JO. 



