68 Soutlicru Cross. 



roirioii'*. A hunentaUle succession of accidents has succeeded in 

 rol.l.in^' the colk-ction of the 'Southern Cross' of a very considerable 

 iiart of its value. Throu.<,dj the death of Mr. Hanson most of the 

 deUils as to tlie preservation of the animals and the labelling of the 

 skins have been lost. Thus the possibility of properly attaching the 

 skulls to their own several skins, and of correctly determining the 

 sexes of the latter, has also vanished. That he was extremely 

 careful in recording these details may be gathered by a perusal of 

 his private diary and from the verbal testimony of his surviving 

 c(»lleagui'.s of the scientific staff of the expedition. 



Fn only a few cases has it been possible to connect certain skins 

 with the zoological notes incidentally included in his private journal, 

 but we are deeply indebted to his near relations for the care and 

 trouble with whicli they have sought out and given for our use these 

 very valuable extracts. 



I am also personally deeply grateful to ]\lr. Bernacchi, the 

 Meteorologist on the ' Sotcthern Cross,' for his information respecting 

 the life-history of the Seals, and for the use of his very excellent 

 photographs, which demonstrate how different is the appearance of 

 the living Seals from any illustrations which have hitherto appeared. 

 Seals of five species are represented in the collection. Of these, 

 four only were taken in the Antarctic regions, all of which were 

 already known to science as examples of the Earless Phocidcr. The 

 fifth was an immature Eared-Seal, one of the Otariidcr, which was 

 apparently captured by Captain Jensen on Campbell Island, and can- 

 not ]>roperly Ijc included among the Seals of the Antarctic collection. 

 The four Antarctic Seals have been named thus : The Crab-eating 

 Seal {Lohodon carcinophajns) ; Weddell's Seal {Leptonychotes ueddelli) ; 

 the Leopard-Seal {Oymorhinus leptonyx); Eoss' Seal {Ommatoplioca 

 roasi). 



The (lucstiun of right in these four Seals to generic distinction 

 must be left to others to determine. The name Lcptonycliotes for 

 Weill lull's Seal has been preferred in this paper to connect it 

 suiK5rficially, more than really, with Oymorhinus leptonyx. There 

 is pnjbably no more real connection between these two Seals than 

 Ijetween any other two of the series, and even the superficial 

 resemblance between them is far more obvious in the tanned skin 

 than in the living animal. Mr. Bernacchi states that there is no 

 I'ossibility of confu.siug a living Oymorhinus with a living Lep- 

 i-'in/cliutcf, the former having a speed and energy, strength and 

 ferucity, which makes it as different from Weddell's Seal, as the skull 

 and dentition of the one are different from those of the other. 



