192 DR R. N. RUDMOSE BROWN ON 



helped to cause confusion in the past. The type and only specimen was for long on 

 exhibition in the Royal Scottish Museum, and a figure of this, taken from the stuffed 

 specimen, appeared in Weddell's book (A Voyage towards the South Pole performed 

 in the years 1822-24, James Weddell, London, 1825). That specimen was grotesquely 

 stuffed and a caricature of the real animal. It has now been removed from the public 

 galleries, unstuffed, and put away as a cabinet skin. A number of specimens from the 

 Scotia collections replace it. 



Stenorhynchus leptonyx Cuvier the Sea-leopard. 



The Sea-leopard, without being common, was frequently seen at the South Orkneys, 

 in the pack, and about Coats Land. We secured three skins of adults, but no young. 

 It is a solitary animal and is never found in herds : three were seen together on one 

 occasion only, and we never saw more in company. In 1893, off Louis Philippe Land, 

 Dr Bruce noticed large hosts of Sea-leopards, but generally met with them in twos or 

 threes or solitary. At the South Orkneys it was absent throughout the winter 1903, 

 with the exception of three which were seen in August. Otherwise it disappeared from 

 March until February. In 1904 Senor Valette records Sea-leopards in Scotia Bay only 

 in November and December. Dr Charcot notes their disappearance from Petermann 

 Island in midwinter (1909), and records the last one in April. 



It is impossible to say with certainty where the Sea-leopard breeds, but we have only 

 slight evidence that it does so at the South Orkneys. In this connection it is of interest 

 to note that Dr Bruce saw a young Sea-leopard on Point Thomson in Brown's Bay in 

 November (19th), and an attempt was made by him, Mr Wilton, and Dr Pirie to secure it. 

 Senor Valette records young Sea-leopards in Scotia Bay in the end of December (1904). 

 Wherever the rookeries of the Sea-leopards occur, the young are probably born in 

 September, and would be quite able to look after themselves and travel some distance 

 even before December. However, the probability of these young ones having travelled 

 from Graham Land is not great. It is far more likely that they were born at the 

 South Orkneys. Unfortunately, the sex of those specimens seen in August could not 

 be determined, as they did not emerge from the water. In any case they had not the 

 appearance of pregnant females. The males of no species of seal appear near the 

 breeding- places in early spring, and had these been males it would indicate that no 

 rookery existed in the vicinity. In July and August, Mr A. E. Felton informs me, 

 Sea-leopards are common on the beaches of the Falkland Islands, but he has seen 

 nothing of their young or their breeding-places. 



No other expedition has been any more successful than the Scotia in locating 

 the breeding- places of Sea-leopards, and this may of course be accounted for by the 

 comparative scarcity of the species, on which all expeditions have commented. On 

 the Bal&na expedition, however, as noted above, Dr Bruce and Mr Burn-Murdoch 

 report seeing many. Dr Bruce estimates that the crew of the Balssna killed fully a 

 thousand during December, January, and February. The expedition of the Frangais 



