MAMMALS 69 



December 1802, and as he states that the female sea- 

 elephants bring forth their young there in July, and that 

 the pairing or rutting season is in September, it is evident 

 that his account of the habits of the animals is largely 

 founded upon information obtained from the sealers, not 

 from his own observations. He states, however, that while 

 many of the animals migrate to the south after September, 

 a considerable number remain during the summer, and there 

 were plenty of them on the island when he was there. The 

 Challenger was at Kerguelen's Land in January 1874, at Heard 

 Island in February, and Mr. Vallentin's photographs of the 

 living sea-elephant were obtained in February. Thus of all 

 the authorities to whom I have referred Anson only actually 

 saw the sea -elephants during the breeding season. It is 

 evident, therefore, that the so-called proboscis does not 

 disappear after the breeding season, as stated by Lesson, for 

 it was present in the male specimens seen by Moseley and 

 Vallentin in January and February. It is even doubtful 

 whether the proboscis is more developed in the breeding 

 season than at other times of the year. The extreme 

 development, according to Anson, is a length of 6 inches 

 from the upper jaw, and in Mr. Vallentin's specimen the 

 free portion in the inflated condition would not be much less 

 than that length. 



A careful anatomical examination of this organ is still a 

 desideratum, and it is to be regretted that the naturalists 

 who have hitherto made observations on the animal have not 

 made a more particular study of the structure and function 

 of the proboscis. Seals have the power of closing the 

 external nostrils, a power which they exercise when under 

 water, and judging from the figures, the inflation of the nasal 

 cavities in the sea -elephant is due to the closure of the 

 external openings when air is forced in from the throat. 

 But it is difficult to understand how the inflated proboscis 



