ELEPHAKT-SEALS OF KEEGUELEN LAND. 437 



to bite each other on the sides of the neck, the animals incline 

 their heads towards the threatened side, and the foldings pro- 

 duced by this movement in the skin make a good bite cfifficult. 

 Nevertheless, deep bleeding gashes are inflicted, which, however, 

 heal quickly, and rarely fester. The fight ends, as a rule, in 

 mutual exhaustion : the bodies of the combatants finally cannoning 

 off each other, and dropping to the ground. 



At times the combat would be renewed until the weaker one 

 gave up the fight and took himself off, gashed and bleeding, but 

 mostly the bulls were seen to separate, unless fighting for the 

 supremacy of the beach. 



The temper of the Elephant-Seals is normally docile ; and by 

 slowly approaching a sleeping animal, and waking it up without 

 any undue noise, one could come quite close up to a seal, and 

 even sit on it, and scratch it with one's cane ; the soft eyes, after 

 an almost friendly glance, closing again. If frightened the pale 

 green pupil of the eye, set in a brown iris, would become blood- 

 red however, a mist of tiny drops of blood gradually filling the 

 pupil, a hue which was also assumed when a seal was angry. 

 Tears came into the eyes when, on waking an animal suddenly, 

 the abrupt opening of the lids exposed the eyes to the light ; but 

 when harassed a seal would also shed tears, and the pupil then 

 changed from pale green into blood-red. 



By the 20th of September the dams hauled up in force, some 

 arriving singly, but generally they came in companies, and on 

 the 24th the first birth took place. The weather was cold and 

 snowy however, and only a few dams were delivered during the 

 two following days. On the 27th and 28th the wind went 

 northerly, with the temperature of the air rising from 33° to 

 44° and 52° F., and the greater part of the pups were then pro- 

 duced, but as late as October 7th what appeared to be new-born 

 pups were seen in a bay on the South Coast of Kerguelen Land 

 though only a few, the arrival of the dams being belated. 



The dehvery of the pups took place close to the sea, and the 

 travail of the dams did not last longer than about five minutes, the 

 heads of the youngsters appearing first, and each dam only pro- 

 ducing one pup. The loss of blood was slight, but the delivery 

 was attended with pain, and cries of distress were uttered at 

 certain moments, the dams facilitating the event by movements 

 of the body. With a sweep of the hind flippers the umbilical 

 coi-d, which remained attached to the youngster, was severed. 

 It gradually dried up, and had a length of from two to three feet. 

 The female pups were, at birth, about three feet long, whilst 

 the males measured as much as five feet in length ; all being 

 covered with jet-black, curly hair, and presenting more the 

 appearance of a chameleon than that of a seal. 



The patresfamilias, as well as the other bulls, were quite dis- 

 interested in what was taking place, although they must have 

 been cognizant of it, as their moustaches and nostrils were 

 moving. 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1923, No. XXIX. 29 



