354 FAinSTA AOT) FLORA OF THE FALKLANDS. 



founded by Bougainville, the members of tbe expedition found 

 elepliant-seals, which Pernetty calls ' ' loup-marins " and sea-lions 

 in numbers amid the tussack-grass on Hog island, and also on the 

 main-land. On one occasion upwards of thirty elephant-seals 

 were found at one time reposing in depressions they had made in 

 the peaty soil along the shore. 



M. de Saint Simon, one of the members of the expedition 



"en tua onze successivement." These animals were 



slaughtered for the oil obtained from the blubber, for use on 



board the vessels. Much to his credit, this gentleman 



" choisit ceux qui etoient couches a sec, afin d'avoir plus de 

 facilite a les en retirer apres qu'ils seroient morts, et moius de peine 

 a les ecorcher, et k en tirer la graisse ou le lard pour en faire de 

 I'huile. ..." and so needless slaughter was avoided. 



It is to be regretted that the crews of the whalers who made 

 these islands their rendezvous during the early part of the 19th 

 century, by their promiscuous slaughter of these interesting quad- 

 rupeds, have reduced them to practical extinction. 



About twenty years ago, a male specimen of this species was 

 found stranded on the sea- shore, about 45 miles from Stanley, by 

 Mr. Herbert Mansel, and the skull of this specimen was brought 

 by him to England. A little later, the remainder of the skeleton 

 was collected, and the whole is now in the museum of the Eoyal 

 College of Surgeons, London. This skull formed the subject of 

 an important paper by the late Professor W. H. Flower, (4) read 

 at a meeting of the Zoological Society, in January, 1881, Three 

 years before this, a notice by Captain C. C. Abbott (s) was 

 communicated to the same Society by Mr. P. L. Slater. 



Mr. Mansel wrote a brief account of the circumstances under 

 which he found his specimen, and this was incorporated by the 

 Professor in his communication. It runs as follows : — " I cannot 

 now give you the exact date when the Elephant was killed, but 

 it was sometime in 1879. 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 settle- 

 ment, when I perceived what I took to be a long boat turned 

 upside down on the beach. On approaching nearer, I discovered 

 it was an enormous Seal asleep. I thought at first it was dead; 



