THE SEALS OF THE WEDDELL SEA. 191 



whales.* The immunity that the Weddell Seal undoubtedly experiences from these 

 scars Dr Wilson attributed to its frequenting coastal waters and pack-ice, where it is 

 free from the attentions of the Killer, which stays in deeper and generally more open 

 water. To a certain extent, no doubt, this is true, but I believe that the lazy nature 

 of the Weddell Seal means fewer fights among themselves and so fewer injuries. 



The young adopt the adult coat soon after taking to the water, and the adults 

 change their coats in midsummer, about January. The general colour is grey or olive- 

 green, often very silvery, mottled with dark or light spots. Dr Harvey Pirie, who had 

 opportunities to observe many cases at the summer station at Scotia Bay, and made a 

 study of the colouring, says : " In observing closely their coats one finds there is great 

 variation, no two being alike, and they seem to be in all stages of changing coats ; some 

 even have a complete old coat, of which the hairs can easily be pulled out. Then again 

 the colour varies greatly, and apart from the actual variations it differs according to 

 your point of view, i.e. whether you look from for'ard with the lie of the hair, abeam, 

 or from aft for'ard against the grain. AVhen looking aft, and to a less extent abeam, 

 there is a silvery sort of sheen which is quite awanting if they are viewed from aft. Some 

 few were of an almost uniform creamy colour with a yellowish tinge, sometimes a 

 greenish yellow, and in two cases a brownish yellow. In practically every one the 

 dorsal aspect is darker than the ventral. Mottling is practically always visible, but 

 where the old coat is complete it may be very indistinct. The amount and size of the 

 mottling also varies very much, and may take the form of small spots or of large 

 patches. Generally speaking, however, it comes to be light spots with a dark ground 

 dorsally, and dark spots with a light ground ventrally. The mottling is best seen 

 ventrally and about the flippers, as these are the first places to cast the old coat ; a broad 

 dorsal ridge is the last region to change. The coloration of the new coat is on an 

 average a dark slatey-grey in the dark parts and a yellowish white in the light, but the 

 exact shades vary very much in their intensity." (Rep. on the Scien. Res. of Voy. of 

 " Scotia" vol. iv., Zoological Log, p. 99.) 



The food of the Weddell Seal consists entirely of fish, lamellibranchs, cuttlefish, 

 crustaceans, and holothurians. They seem never to attack penguins. Many attempts 

 which we made to induce them to do so failed. Dr Turquet, of the Frangais expedition, 

 writes of a Weddell Seal eating a shag after playing with it half an hour. But it is 

 probable that this was in reality a Sea-leopard. It is very doubtful if this seal is lithe 

 and quick enough in its movements to catch penguins, and hence it has never taken to 

 them as food. 



The adult Weddell measures up to 9|- feet in length, and weighs as much as 900 Ibs. 

 or more. 



This seal is sometimes referred to as Weddell's False Sea-leopard, owing to a remote 

 resemblance between the two ; but it would be wise to drop the name, since it has 



* " On the History and Geographical Relations of the Cetacea of Davis Strait and Baffin's Bay," Robert Brown, 

 Proc. Zool. Soc., xxxv. pp. 533-556, and Arctic Manual and Instruction*, 1875, pp. 69-93. 



