7&2 REPORT— 1900. 



Bonariense, Gerv., behind at base, between at apex. In Ursus speljBus behind. 

 Australian Sea-lion, Otaria pusella, 0. stelleri, 0. jubata, I. f . Elephant Seal, I. ^. 

 Crab-eating Seal, Monachus, and Onomatophora, I. f . The innermost is far bade in 

 the last. In Felis tigris the inner and in F. macroscelides the inner and intermediate 

 incisors are somewhat back. 



10. JVote on Exhibition of Skulls of Antarctic Seals. 

 By G. E. H. Barrett-Hamiltok. 



I am indebted to the authorities of the British Museum of Natural History for 

 the opportunity of studying the collection of seals brought home from the antarctic 

 seas by the Belgica, and now the property of the 'Expedition Antarctique Beige.' 



The collection is not a large one, and consists almost entirely of specimens of 

 the Phoctdes, the Otariidm being represented by only one very immature skull. 



One of the main points of interest regarding the specimens is the fact that they 

 afford no support whatsoever to the supposition, sometimes advanced, that some 

 startUngly new forms of marine Carnivora will be found to occur in the antarctic 

 seas. All the species known to occur in these seas, except the (perhaps extinct) 

 sea elephant, are represented in the collection. Thus there are skulls of Leptomj- 

 chotes weddeli, Ofjmorhinus leptonyx, Lobodon carcinoijhaga, and Omniatophoca 

 rossii; but all these are framed on patterns so close to those of the older specimens 

 in the British Museum that it is impossible (with the present material) to find even 

 new sub-specific diflerences amongst them. At the same time it is highly interest- 

 ing to have a series of specimens of various ages from which to amplify our know- 

 ledge of the various forms. 



Probably the most interesting species represented in the collection is Ommnto- 

 phoca rossii, of which there are two skulls. These .are remarkable for the 

 variability of their dentition ; a point to which ' Mr. W. Bateson has already drawn 

 attention with reference to the only two previously known skulls. It seems now 

 certain that variability of dentition must be regarded as one of the characteristics 

 of Ross's seal, and it is interesting to know that this variability is not shared by 

 the other species of antarctic Phocidce, all the specimens which I have examined 

 being quite uniform and showing no abnormalities. 



I hope at a later date to publish a more detailed account of these skulls. 

 The following were exhibited at the Section: — Ommatoplioca rossii (two skulls) 

 and Lobodon carcinophaga. 



TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11. 

 The following Papers were read : 



1. Photographs of some Malayan Insects."^ By Nelson Ankandale. 



The photographs were taken from living insects in the Siamese Malay States 

 last year. The first represented a Stauropiis larva not dissimilar to the English 

 Lobster Caterpillar on its food -plant, Melastoma poh/antJmm — the so-called 

 ' Straits Rhododendron.' When it is about to change its skin this larva resembles 

 a bird's dropping, and is then sluggish in its movements ; but after the ecdysis has 

 taken place, the insect becomes active again, and keeps its true legs and the pro- 

 cesses on the posterior region of its abdomen in constant agitation. Its colour 

 also changes considerably. 



The second photograph represented a portion of the stem of a living Areca- 

 Tialm, with a small Geometrid caterpillar that conceals itself by plastering frag- 

 ments of a powdery lichen upon its own back. 



The third and fourth photographs showed two species of a peculiar type of larva, 

 supposed to belong to Lycid beetles, and noticeable for its flattened bodv, minute 



' P.Z.S., 1892, pp. lOG, 107. 



? Fpr details see Proc. Zool. Sqc, London, Nov. 1900. 



