OS 



SEXUAL DIMORPHISM 



On February 6, 1899, my friend Mr. Ilupert Vallentin 

 had the opportunity of seeing a living male elephant seal on 

 the beach of Stanley Harbour in the Falkland Islands, and 

 was able to take several photographs of it, showing the snout 

 in the collapsed and the inflated condition. The latter was 

 produced by striking the animal on the snout with a stick, 

 which enraged him greatly. This specimen measured 17 feet 

 8 inches from the tip of the snout to the end of the tail, 18 

 feet 11 J inches from the snout to the end of the hind flipper. 



Fig. 2. The same Sea-Elephant with snout inflated and mouth open. From a photograph 

 of the living animal taken by R. Vallentin, Esq., in the Falkland Islands. 



Two of the photographs, showing the trunk both flaccid and 

 inflated, are reproduced in Figs. 1 and 2. 



The inflated trunk in this specimen was about a foot in 

 length from base to tip, and this is the measurement which 

 Peron gives. Anson also states that the trunk only projects 

 5 or 6 inches from the end of the jaw. Darwin and others 

 seem to have supposed that the snout was prolonged to a 

 length of 1 foot beyond the mouth, but this is a misunder- 

 standing. The greater part of the inflated snout is situated 

 above the jaw, not in front of it. 



Peron visited the King's Island in Bass Straits in 



