40 ZOOLOGICAL LOG OF THE SCOTIA 



Aug. 27th. One nudibranch and two pycnogons in the dredge. Some black- 

 backed gulls, some snowy petrels and also a nelly have been seen during the day. A hole 

 was made in the bay ice about three-eighths of a mile from the ship towards Point 

 Davis, and three seals skeletons were lowered down. These skeletons have been in a 

 hole near the ship for a fortnight, but have hardly been touched, owing to the absence 

 or scarcity of amphipods in the vicinity of the " Scotia." The trap contained 

 164 cushion-stars, weighing 6 Ibs. 11 ozs. (one star had four arms), three isopods, two 

 buckies, one large nemertean, one yellow star-fish and six fish, all of the Notothenia 

 kind, weighing 4 Ibs. 10 ozs. Average length 11 '4 inches, average weight 12.3 ozs. 

 Brown saw a seal, though too far off to distinguish the species. Five cushion-stars 

 and an isopod were obtained from the seals skeletons. 



Aug. 28th. One small fish and four pycnogons were the contents of the dredge. 

 A nelly and some snowy petrels were seen, also a seal by'Pirie, but it was too 

 far off to distinguish the species. Hauled Giesbrecht net up, contents nil. 



Aug. 29th. The first haul of the dredge was a very rich one, the second blank. 

 The first haul contained a small fish, several lamellibranchs and gasteropods, three 

 isopods and several smaller crustaceans amongst sea-weed, two polychaetes and another 

 "worm," several cushion-stars and three or four orange star-fishes, also two small 

 holothurians, several fragments of sponges, including two species, as well as five or six 

 tunicates, a few pycnogons, one with ova attached and much sea-weed with bryozoa, 

 sertularians, etc., on it. Mossman saw a shag flying northwards ; a nelly and some 

 snowy petrels were also seen. 



Aug. 30th. The first young seals were seen to-day. At Point Martin three 

 Weddell seals and their young ones were found. Each seal had one pup, probably born 

 to-day or yesterday. The smallest was from 2|- to 3 feet long. Their coats are 

 woolly and grey-white ; as yet they are free from the usual spots and marks on the 

 coats of the Weddell seals. The young have the usual disproportionate head, and their 

 flippers, the hind ones particularly, are well developed, and out of proportion to the 

 rest of the body. The eyes have the characteristic look, large, brown and slightly 

 blood-shot in the white. They move exactly like the adults, but a few yards at a time 

 tires them, and they have to rest. The mother lies alternately on one or the other 

 side when suckling the pup, and, at other times, seems to shelter it by lying to wind- 

 ward. The mother is more fierce, and resents any annoyance more than in her 

 childless state, but one, on being worried with sticks, tried to burrow into the snow 

 as if in search of water, which would have entailed her abandoning her pup. The pup 

 frequently gives a cry, not unlike the bleating of a lamb, but with at times a more 

 human sound about it. The mother too gives vent often to the peculiar hoarse roar, 

 though often the noise more resembles a loud cackle. 



All three seals and their young were lying about the line of tide-cracks so that in 

 event of floe giving way a retreat to the land would be quite easy. 



A nelly, snowy petrels and black-backed gulls were seen. 



