The Seals of the Weddell Sea : Notes on their Habits and Distribution. By 

 R. N. Rudmose Brown, D.Sc., University of Sheffield ; Naturalist, Scottish 

 National Antarctic Expedition. (With Nine Plates.) 



(MS. received February 15, 1913. Issued separately May 20, 1913.) 



During the voyages of the Scotia all four species of Antarctic seals were met with, 

 the Weddell Seal (Leptonychotes weddelli), the Crab-eating or White Seal (Lobodon 

 carcinopfwga), the Sea-leopard (Stenorhynchus leptonyx), and the Ross Seal (Ommato- 

 phoca rossi). We found, as all other Antarctic expeditions have found, that the 

 Ross Seal was the rarest of these four species and was very infrequently seen. The 

 Weddell Seal we found to be far the commonest, and to occur in enormous numbers 

 around the land. It is probably this liking of the species for the vicinity of the land which 

 has made it a familiar seal to most South Polar expeditions, since, wherever the ship may 

 winter, these seals are sure to be seen in large numbers in spring, while many stay 

 far from the open sea in the winter, utilising holes in the ice for access to the water. 

 Captain Amundsen found them numerous off the Ross Barrier. On some coasts, 

 however, the Lobodon is the commonest species. During the voyage of the Dundee 

 whalers to the east of Graham Land and adjacent seas in 1892-93, Dr W. S. Bruce, 

 who accompanied the Balsena, noticed that " the mottled Grey Seals were in greatest 

 abundance " ; " the greatest number I saw on one piece of ice at a time was forty- 

 seven." These seals, which Dr Bruce referred at the time to the Ross Seal, were really 

 Crab-eating Seals. The mistake was very pardonable considering the marked difference 

 between young and adult Crab-eating Seals, and the fact that at the time no living 

 person, except Sir Joseph Hooker, was acquainted with Antarctic seals, outside a very 

 few museum specimens. Dr Bruce had not, it need hardly be said, a reference library 

 of even the most modest dimensions on board the whaler in which he sailed, and indeed 

 the first photograph of an Antarctic seal was taken by Dr Bruce during that voyage- 

 one of a Sea-leopard, a reproduction of which is now published. Moreover, the 

 commercial nature of the expedition afforded no facilities for collecting, and what skins 

 were saved for the purposes of identification at home were taken by the captain and 

 cut up for leather, while the skulls that Dr Bruce had managed to collect were thrown 

 overboard as being an encumbrance on the ship. Under such circumstances it can 

 readily be understood that mistakes were liable to be made in the identifications such 

 as the cabinet zoologist at home would have no excuse for and would probably fail to 

 understand. 



Exclusive of these four species of seals, there are two which, though not truly 

 Antarctic, yet approach the regions of pack-ice : these are the Sea-elephant 

 (Macrorhinus leoninus) and the Southern Fur Seal (Arctocephalus aitstraliy). The 



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