Extracts from Diary of Nicolai Hanson. 95 



numerous now on the ice, which off and on fills the bay, than they were 

 on the drift-ice in which we lay with the ship. They have all, with few 

 exceptions, been Leptonycliotes, as far as I am able to judge. The females 

 we have killed these last fev/ days have all had embryos, from 4 to 7 inches 

 long. The contents of the stomach have, so far as there has been any, 

 consisted of remnants of fish. Generally there are also a lot of worms, 

 both round and flat, in the stomachs, and a great number adhering to the 

 sides of the latter. Yesterday I killed two Seals and three Megalestris 

 with a rifle. vSaw a blue oblong-shaped Jelly Fish. I shot fourteen 

 Megalestris to-night in fifteen shots. 



March 17th. — During these last days I have captured twenty-six 

 Megalestris maccormicJci and two Ossifraga. The former can now be said 

 to be the only species remaining. Of other birds we only see one now 

 and again, and that not every day. If it had not been for the offal 

 from the Seals and Penguins which we have killed, I do not think that 

 even the Skuas would have stayed with us longer than when the Penguins 

 left us, for, when first we arrived here, it appeared as if the Penguins formed 

 the main part of their food ; but now they will be able to exist for a long 

 time on the offal from our slaughtering. The number of Seals appears 

 now to decrease every day. To-day, while taking a walk with Bernacchi 

 and Evans, we found a mummy of a White Seal (Lohodon carcinophagus). 

 One of these days I will examine these mummies to see if they will satisfy 

 my curiosity and give me a hint of what I may expect to find here when 

 spi'ing comes again. Perhaps this is the place where the Seal breeds 1 



March I8th. — Went out for a walk this forenoon. My walk was not 

 without some result, as I found a solitary Penguin sitting in a hole. As 

 I thought he might be of some interest for a nearer examination and 

 study of his moulting, he had to accompany me back to the house in spite 

 of his energetic protests, and I have him now lodged in an empty box. 

 He has as yet not moulted one single feather, but all his old plumage sits 

 so loosely that it can hardly be touched without dropping off. I intend 

 to keep him captive to see how long the moulting lasts. This afternoon 

 I commenced digging out some Seal mummies. I found in all twelve of 

 them. 



No. 1. Lohodon carcinojjhagus. Old male. 



2. ,, „ Sex indeterminable. 



3. ,, ,, Female. 



4. Species indeterminable. Male. 



5. Lohodon carcinojphagus. Old. Sex indeterminable. 



6. Leptonychotes weddelU. Female with embryo. 



7. Lohodon carcinophagus. ,, ,, 



8. ,, ,, Sex indeterminable. 



9. Uncertain. Young. Sex indeterminable. 



10. Lohodon carcinophagus. Old. 



11. Leptonychotes weddelli. Old. Male. 



12. Lohodon carcinophagus. Old. Female. 



What does this list tell us? Shall we here find a solution of the 

 Zoological problem : — Where do the Antarctic Seals bring forth their 

 young 1 It would be of great interest to get this problem solved, as the 



