462 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



cuttlefish and small fishes. Townsend (1930b) mentions that 

 the animal killed off San Diego had been feeding on fishes for 

 its stomach contained, among other species, a skate. 



The case of this seal is thus a happy one in which, with strict 

 protection over a period of years, it has shown a recuperative 

 power and has increased well beyond the danger point. With 

 further increase, it is likely that the species will gradually 

 enlarge its hauling grounds and spread to other adjacent parts 

 of its former range. 



SOUTHERN ELEPHANT SEAL 

 MIROUNGA LEONINA (Linnaeus) 



Phoca leonina Linnaeus, Systema Naturae, ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 37, 1758 (Antarctic Seas). 



SYNONYMS: Phoca elephantina Molina, Saggio Storia Nat. Chili, p. 280, 1782 (coasts 

 of southern South America) ; Phoca proboscidea Peron, Voyage aux Terres Austr., 

 vol. 2, p. 34, pi. 32, 1817 (King Island, New South Wales) ; Phoca ansonii Des- 

 marest, Mammalogie, vol. 1, p. 239. 1820 (in part) (Falkland Islands) ; M [irounga] 

 patagonica Gray, in Griffith's Cuvier, Animal Kingdom, vol. 5, p. 180, 1827 

 (Patagonia). For other synonyms see also Allen, G. M., 1939, p. 249. 



FIGS.: Murphy, 1914, pis. 1-7 (photographs). 



The southern elephant seal is the largest of the seal family 

 (Phocidae), attaining a length of 25 feet (or possibly more in 

 the case of an adult male), with a greatest girth of 15 to 18 

 feet. The males have a short proboscis, which is capable of 

 slight inflation. The females are considerably smaller and lack 

 a distinct proboscis. As in the other true seals, the hind limbs 

 are turned permanently backward, and the animal when on 

 land does not use them in progression but humps itself along 

 with wriggling, caterpillarlike movements. The thin hairy 

 coat is dark yellowish brown, and in old males it wears away 

 about the neck, leaving the skin bare. The young animals are 

 described as blackish brown above and light creamy buff below. 

 There is some variation in color with age in adult animals. 

 Murphy (1914) found that the "disproportion in size between 

 the sexes is much greater than with the California species." 

 The females do not exceed 3 meters in length, while the males 

 measure about 5 meters when full grown. The largest male 

 measured by this investigator was 455 cm. from tip of snout to 

 tip of tail; the largest female 265 cm. He points out that the 

 snout is entirely different from that of the California species 

 in that "the whole nasal tube is narrower and shorter in the 



