4,4, 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[Februaby, 1903. 



day frequently reach or exceed this length, and as none 

 of these (as exemplified hy the condition of the bones in 

 the British iluseum and other skeletons received of late 

 years in England) appear to be fully adult, it seems 

 well-nigli certain that old bulls must have grown to much 

 greater size. ProbaV)ly twenty-five feet would not be an 

 undue estimate for the length of au adult male, and it is 

 far from improbable that close upon thirty feet may have 

 been reached in some cases. 



Among the favourite haunts of the elephant-seal were 

 the islands of the Crozet group, Kerguelan, and St. Paul, 

 in the Indian Ocean, as well as Heard Island. In the 

 South Atlantic these monsters formerly abounded on 

 Tristan-da-Cunha, and nearer the American coast they are 

 again met with further south on the Palklands, South 

 Georgia, and the South Shetlands. On the eastern side of 

 the Pacific they occur, as recorded by Lord Anson, on Juan j 

 Fernandez, and thence by way of the Marquesas to the j 

 Macquarrie and other islands south of New Zealand, where 

 the British Museum specimens were obtained. They were 

 likewise common on the coasts of Tierra del Fuego and 

 Southern Patagonia ; and the occurrence of the isolated 

 colony north of the equator in California has been already 

 mentioned. 



The trunk-like muzzle of the old bull sea-elephant, like 

 the sac on the crown of the head of its relative the bladder- 

 seal, is capable of inflation during periods of excitement, 

 but at other times is small and relatively inconspicuous. 

 Probably it is only when the animals are on shore, and 

 more especially during the breeding season, that the trunk 

 is inflated to its full extent. The sketch in Lord Anson's 

 " Yoyage," although true to nature in some respects, is in 

 many ways a caricature, and it is only of late years that- 

 photographs have been obtained showing the true form of 

 the animal. From these it appears that when on land the 

 old bulls are in the habit of supporting the fore part of 

 the body on the front flippers and raising the neck and 

 head, into a nearly vertical posture, so that the latter is 

 fully six feet above the ground. When the trunk is 

 inflated to its fullest extent, the mouth is opened, and the 

 animal emits a succession of terrific roars, which may be 

 heard for miles. 



In using its front flippers as a means of support to this 

 extent, the elephant-seal is quite unlike the rest of the 

 earless seals, and resembles the sea-lions and sea-bears. 

 It also agrees with the latter group in the great superiority 

 of the males to the females in point of bodily size. A 

 thii'd point of resemblance between elephant-seals and 

 eared-seals is shown by their breeding habits, which are 

 in many respects similar. On the Crozet Islands, for 

 example, where they an'ive about the middle of August, 

 the old bulls secure a station for themselves. They do 

 not, however, pass any long period without taking food, 

 neither do they collect "harems" for themselves after 

 the manner of the sea-bears and sea-lions ; the females 

 selecting a station for themselves some distance away. 

 Soon after landing the females give birth to their young, 

 which are at first black, and, although there is some 

 discrepancy between different accounts, it seems probable 

 that both sexes remain with their offspring till tlie latter 

 are ready to enter the sea, which they usually do when 

 about six or seven weeks old. When they have once taken 

 to a maritime life the young sea-elephants are said to 

 grow at a prodigious rate; and, indeed, unless they take 

 many years to attain full maturity, this must necessarily 

 be the case. 



As just indicated, the few accounts that have been given 

 of the breeding habits of these seals by no means accord 

 with one another, and this is the more to be regretted 

 since, owing to the comparative scarcity of the species at 



the present day, it is very unlikely that an authentic his- 

 tory will ever be given to the world. 



The extermination of this giant seal, so far as it has as 

 yet gone, is a sad story, accompanied as it is by details of 

 revolting and fiendish cruelty. In the eighteenth and the 

 early part of the nineteenth century these seals were met 

 with in thousands on most of their island haunts as well 

 as on the shores of Patagonia, but the ease with which 

 they could be killed, and the value of their hides and oil, 

 soon led to a vast reduction in their numbers; and in many 

 of their old breeding-places, such as the Falklauds, they 

 are either very scarce or are altogether exterminated. On 

 Heard Island they still survive in considerable numbers 

 owing to the difficulty of gaining ;w;cess to their favourite 

 breeding-ground, to reach which from the shore two 

 glaciers have to be crossed. The difficulty of removing 

 the oil and hides from such a locality has, however, been 

 to a considerable extent overcome by driving the seals to 

 sea during stormy weather, when they are compelled to 

 seek an easier landing-place. In the Macquarrie Islands 

 elephant-seals appear to l>e still obtained in considerable 

 numbers, but the difficulty, or impossibility, of obtaining a 

 fully adult male tells its own tale as to the persecution to 

 which the species is subject ; and it is only too palpable 

 that long before the middle of the present century elephant- 

 sealing wiU have been abandoned as an unprofitable trade ; 

 but by that time v;e shall really be living in an im- 

 poverished world, so far as large animals are concerned. 



Conducted hi/ M. I. Cross. 



NOTES OX THE COLLECTIOX, EXAMINATIOX AXD 



MOUXTIXG OF MOSSES AXD LIVERWORTS. 



By T. H. RcssELL. 



The following notes, which simply represent the conclusions 

 drawn from a good many years' practical observation and 

 experience, and do not pretend to anything more abstruse or 

 scientific, are written in the hope that they may not only prove 

 of service to others interested in the above fascinating little 

 plants, but may also be the means of ehcibing further informa- 

 tion on the subjects of which they treat from those whose 

 researches have been more extensive than my own. For the 

 sake of convenience I shall only directly refer to mosses, though 

 all that I fiave to say will apply equally to the liverworts. 

 I. — Collection" and Examination. 



The appliances for the collection of specimens are simple in 

 the extreme. For many years I have been in the habit of 

 putting the material gathered in the field into old envelopes 

 that have been cut open at the narrow end instead of at the 

 side. Xot only do these form the most convenient pockets for 

 the purpose, but notes can be made on them at the time, of the 

 date and locality, when and where the plants were found, and 

 rough memoranda may be added afterwards of any special 

 features of interest that present themselves on a closer examina- 

 tion of the contents, and that need elucidation. A bundle of 

 these envelopes, with a fairly strong magnifying-glass, an old 

 knife, and a pair of forceps constitute my usual outfit, and are 

 kept ready for use in a small satchel, which serves as a receptacle 

 for the envelopes when filled. The forceps are useful for 

 detiiching plants from their surrounding earth, an operation that 

 can often be best performed when they are freshly gathered. 

 On reaching home the envelopes that have been used are placed 

 in a warm room, in an upright posilim, and with the ends 

 opened as widely as possible so as to admit air, and thus to allow 



