146 PROF. W. H. FLOWER ON THE ELEPHANT SEAL. [Jan. 4, 



The skull was presented by Mr. Herbert Mansel, at the kind 

 suggestion of Mr. F. Coleman, Secretary of the Falkland -Islands 

 Company, who has made such excellent use of his opportunities in 

 connexion with these islands to advance our knowledge of their 

 zoology. Mr. Mansel has been good enough to furnish nie with 

 the following information about the animal from which the skull 

 was obtained : — " I cannot now give you the exact date when the 

 Elephant was killed, but it was sometime in 18/9. The particulars 

 of the capture are these. I was riding one afternoon along the 

 south coast of the east island, about 45 miles west of Stanley, the 

 principal settlement, when I perceived what I took to be a long boat 

 turned upside down on the beach. On approaching nearer I dis- 

 covered it was an enormous Seal asleep. I thought at first it was 

 dead ; but while watching I saw it half-open one eye. I then threw a 

 stone at it ; and when struck, it suddenly reared itself up on its flippers 

 to the height, I should think, of 8 or 10 feet, opening its enormous 

 mouth to its widest extent. After this I kept at a respectful distance, 

 pelting him until he thought he had enough of it, and he made 

 slowly for the water, making as much fuss as a large steamer. On 

 going back to the house, I mentioned what I had seen to one of my 

 men (an old inhabitant), who said it must have been an Elephant. 

 He had never seen one, but said he had heard old sealers say 

 they killed them by finding them asleep, giving them a poke in the 

 side, and on their rearing up in the maimer described firing into 

 their mouth. He went out the next morning with his gun, and 

 found the animal in the same place, and despatched him in the 

 manner 1 have mentioned. I have been living in the Falkland 

 Islands upwards of five years, and during that time never saw or 

 heard of one having been seen, I may sal'ely say one has not been 

 seen in the Islands for the last ten or twelve years. They were 

 never, I believe, plentiful, and now are extremely rare, as they were 

 much sought after by the sealers on account of the quantity of oil 

 they produced and the value of it, as it brought a mucli higher price 

 than the oil procured from other Seals. The Elephant in question 

 measured a little over 21 feet, and must have weighed several 

 tons." 



In response to further inquiries, Mr. Mansel adds :■ — " I did not 

 notice the proboscis while the animal was asleej), but when roused it 

 was inflated and very distinct, about a foot in length. The colour 

 was the same as that of most Phocidse, a dirty blue-black " '. 



It will be observed that the attitude assumed by the animal when 

 disturbed, described by Mr. Mansel, corresponds very much with 

 that of the original figure of the so-called " Sea Lyon " of Anson ^, of 

 Juan Fernandez, upon which Linnaeus founded his Phoca leonina, 

 and the jaws and teeth of which, still preserved in the museum under 

 my charge, prove the identity of the species with that now under con- 

 sideration. The habit of raising the head and fore part of the body, 



' With regard to the occurrence of the Elephant Seal in the Falkland Islands 

 in former times, see Captain C. C. Abbott, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 189. 

 * ' Voyage round the World,' 1748. 



