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



gone its greatest degradation, a few more stages of wliich would leave 

 the animal little better provided with these organs than are the 

 Ziphioid Cetaceans. 



The form of the brain-cavity of the Elephant Seal, as shown by 

 the casts in the Museum of the College of Surgeons, is remarkable 

 for its great width posteriorly compared with its length, and presents 

 the greatest contrast, among the Seals, to that of Otaria, which differs 

 but little from that of the terrestrial Carnivora. The short, globular 

 form of the brain, as well as the numerous and closely packed 

 convolutions of the surface of the hemispheres, is one of the many 

 characters by which the Seals resemble the Cetacea. There is much 

 in the general appearance of the skull of the Elephant Seal, espe- 

 cially the fore part, with its short nasal bones, broad depressed 

 muzzle, wide flat palate, and simple, conical, recurved teeth, which 

 presents some resemblance to the Carnivorous members of that group, 

 such as Orca ; and it is singular, if only as a coincidence, that Mr. 

 Mansel's large specimen shows a want of symmetry in the form of 

 the anterior nares, the ossified septum being bent to the right, which 

 recalls one of the peculiarities which distinguish the skull of most of 

 the toothed Whales'. In the small development of the coronoid process 

 of the lower jaw the Elephant Seal surpasses any of the Phocine 

 series, and is furthest removed from the land Carnivores. 



As far as can be gathered from the narratives of those who have 

 had the opportunity of observing this animal aUve, its habits confirm 

 the views derived from its structure. It appears to be more helpless 

 on land and more active in the water than the other members of the 

 group ^. 



All the characters hitherto mentioned have been only modifications 

 or exaggerations of those met with in other Seals, and are shared by 

 some one or other of the group. There is one remarkable evidence of 

 specialization which it possesses in common only (with modifications 

 in detail) with its near ally Cystophora cristata — the dilatable sac 

 connected with the nasal passages, developed (like so many of the 

 singular pouches accessory to the respiratory organs) only in adult 

 males. 



As I have had occasion to mention many structural points in 

 which the Elephant Seal appears to approach nearer than other 

 members of the group to the Cetacea, I must guard myself against 

 being supposed to infer that it is genealogically in any Avay a con- 

 necting-link between the two. The Seals appear to me so distinctly 

 an offshoot of the terrestrial Carnivora, that any consanguinity between 

 them and the Cetacea must be excessively remote ; and if the Ele- 

 phant Seal is the most modified and specialized of the group, and 



^ Prof. Huxley points out several cliaracters in which the Seal's skull is "stri- 

 kingly Cetacean " (' Manual of Anatomy of Vertebrated Animals,' 1871, p 425). 



^ See Peron, ' Voyage de decouverte aux Terres Australes,' 1816, tome ii. 

 p. 45 ; also Scammon, ' The Marine Mammals of the North-west Coast of 

 North America' (1874), p. 117; Weddell, 'A Voyage towards the South Pole' 

 (1825), p. 136. This is also the opinion of Mr. Moseley, one of the most 

 capable and observing of naturalists who have come into contact with Sea 

 Elephants in their native haunts. 



