MAMMALS 67 



Lesson's account, 1 on which Darwin relied, follows Peron's 

 in most respects, but states that the erection of the snout or 

 trunk is due to congestion of blood, as in other erectile 

 tissues, and that the trunk seems to disappear gradually 

 after the rutting season. I have found no authority what- 

 ever for this statement, which seems to be unsupported by 

 any evidence ; perhaps it was merely suggested by analogous 

 changes in other animals. 



Moseley had opportunities of studying the sea- elephant 



Fig. 1. A male Sea -Elephant (Macrorhinus proboscideus), showing the snout in the 

 uninflated condition. From a photograph of the living animal taken by R. Vallentin, 

 Esq., in the Falkland Islands. 



when the Challengervisited Kerguelen'sLand and Heard Island. 

 He describes one male, 12 feet long, which raised its head on 

 its fore nippers and lifted up its tail from the ground in the 

 attitude described by Anson. Moseley thought the animal 

 was too young to have a fully -developed trunk, but he 

 evidently had exaggerated ideas of the extent of this organ. 

 He states that the erection of the trunk is due to in- 

 flation with air, combined with contraction of the muscles 

 at the side of the nose. 



1 Dicticmnaire Classique cCHistoire NatureUe, vol. xiii. 



