1868.] CAPT. ABBOTT ON THE SEALS OF THE FALKLANDS. 189 



The number of the vertebrae in the two previously known skele- 

 tons of P. sibbaldii is sixty-four. Malm gives sixty-three as the 

 number in his specimen, a very small bone corresponding to the last 

 caudal of the other two being apparently absent. The number of 

 the vertebrae in P. antiquorum appears never to exceed sixty-two. 



From the coincidence of these and other minor characters, for 

 which I must refer to the work itself, it appears to me highly pro- 

 bable that the Gothenburg Whale is a third example of P. sibbaldii. 



To the previously known osteological characters we are now en- 

 abled to add a description of the external appearance of the species. 

 It differs notably from P. antiquorum in colour, being described by 

 Malm as of a deep slate-colour, dashed with washes of a paler hue, 

 and gradually passing to a lighter shade below, with scattered small 

 spots of milk-white on the inferior surface. The inner sides of the 

 pectoral fins are white, and the under surface of the lobes of the tail 

 approaching to that colour. 



Like the other two known examples of the species, the present 

 specimen was not a full-grown animal ; it measured .53' 10" long in 

 a straight line. The skull is 10' 2" in length. The skeleton, pre- 

 pared skin, and portions of the viscera are preserved in the Museum 

 at Gothenburg, of which Prof. Malm is the superintendent. 



2. On the Seals of the Falkland Islands. By Captain C. C. 

 Abbott. Communicatedj with Notes, by P. L. Sclater, 

 M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., Secretary to the Society*. 



Sealskins and Seal-oil are two of the principal products of the 

 Falkland Islands. The boats employed in collecting these articles 

 of commerce are usually from 20 to 30 tons in measurement, and 

 are manned by four or five men. They are sent out laden with pro- 

 visions, casks for the oil, and salt for preserving the sealskins ; they 

 are frequently out for months together, cruizing about the islands, 

 and seldom return without a full cargo. 



I only know of four varieties of Seals being found among these 

 islands. These are :— 1. The Sea-Elephant; 2. The Sea-Lion; 3. The 

 Fur-Seal ; and 4. The Sea-Leopard. 



1 . The Sea-Elephant. {Morunga elephantina.)f 



This Seal is called the "Sea-Elephant" from the prolongation of 



* My friend Capt. C. C. Abbott, who was formerly resident in the Falkland 

 Islands, and has contributed so largely to our knowledge of its ornithology (see 

 his articles in the ' Ibis,' for I860 and I86I), has kindly drawn up this article at 

 my request. We know so little of the habits and localities of the marine Car- 

 nivora that the value of such notes of a practical observer cannot be estimated 

 too highly.— P. L. S. 



t There can be no question of this being the Morunga elephantina (Mol.); Gray, 

 Catal. of Seals and Whales (1866), p. 39. Dr. Gray must have made some mis- 

 takewhen he says (Ann. Nat. Hist. March I868,p.2I5) that Capt. Abbott informed 

 him that this animal has become extinct in the Falklands. — P. L. S. 



