66 SEXUAL DIMORPHISM 



Naturalist on the " Challenger " is by no means accurate, the 

 original figure representing the snout much more correctly. 

 Anson landed at Juan Fernandez at the beginning of June 

 and left at the end of September, so that he was there in the 

 southern winter, and he states that the elephant seals come 

 ashore at the beginning of winter. He states that the noise 

 they make is very loud, and sounds sometimes like the grunt- 

 ing of hogs, sometimes like the snorting of horses in full 

 vigour. He says that the males have furious battles with each 

 other, principally about their females, and that they are much 

 larger than the females, being 12 to 20 feet in length. 



Perhaps the best account ever written of the habits of 

 these animals is that given in Peron's Voyage de Dkouvertes 

 aux Terres Australes. I refer to Freycinet's edition, published 

 in 1824, vol. iii., but the observations were made between 

 the years 1800 and 1806. Peron studied the animals on the 

 islands of the Bass Straits, where at that time they were very 

 numerous, but were being ruthlessly slaughtered for the sake 

 of their blubber. He states that the enlarged snout is flaccid 

 when the animal is in repose, but when he raises himself, 

 breathes strongly, or commences to fight, it elongates and 

 takes the form of a tube a foot in length. He says that 

 when this takes place the nature of the voice is much 

 modified. The cry of the females and young males resembles 

 the lowing of a vigorous bull, but that of the adult males 

 has much resemblance to the noise made by a man when 

 gargling. 



Peron gives a graphic description of the behaviour of the 

 males when fighting. They fight only in duels, one male 

 against another ; each raises its head and shoulders erect on 

 its fore flippers, then they fall upon one another with their 

 whole weight, teeth against teeth, jaw against jaw. Some- 

 times they lose an eye in such fights, and the possession of 

 the females is the reward of the victor. 



