29 



captured without much difficulty, and was purchased, and presented to the 

 Museum, by Captain Fraser. This specimen proved to be a female. Shortly 

 afterwards, a male of the same species was caught in our harbour, and was 

 also secured for the Museum. These seals are of a species by no means 

 common on any part of the coast of New Zealand. They belong to the genus 

 Stenorhyncus of M. Francois Cuvier, a form restricted, so far as we know, to 

 the Southern World. In the Museum they are labelled as S. Weddellii, the 

 Phoca Leopardina, of Jameson, or Leopard Seal. The skins have, as I can 

 vouch, been carefully stuffed by the Curator of the Museum, and I have 

 secured for that Institution such portions of both skeletons as were not retained 

 in the stuffed specimens. I am able to forward, for the use of the Society, 

 good photographs of these seals, which Mr. Alfred Burton was kind enough to 

 take for me, for this purpose. 



The inappropriateness of the name Leopard Seal; cannot but strike any one 

 on examining these specimens. This has led me to look up such information, 

 as is procurable here, about the genus to which they belong, and I have been 

 obliged to conclude that these seals are not the same as Weddellii, and that 

 they remain up to the present time undescribed in works of Natural History. 

 At the risk, therefore, of repeating what some one may have done before, I 

 venture to send the following description of them to the Society, since, no 

 doubt, the majority of naturalists in New Zealand have as little opportunity as 

 myself of referring to any description that may have been published at home 

 during the last few years. 



The genus Stenorhyncus was first defined by M. Fr. Cuvier, and is most 

 readily distinguished by the very peculiar character of the teeth. Of these 

 " the molars are deeply divided into three long points, which are conical, and 

 somewhat hooked," the central process in each being considerably longer than 

 the others. Compared with the typical Phoca, the narrowness, and comparative 

 length of the snout, is very noticeable, and it is on account of this feature that the 

 generic name /Stenorhyncus (narrow-muzzle) has been given. Only two species 

 have hitherto been described, both found in the southern hemisphere. S. Leptonyx 

 (the Small-nailed Seal of Cuvier) has been taken in South Georgia, and the 

 Falkland Isles. S. Weddellii (Leopard Seal of Weddell) appears to come from 

 localities still further to the South, in the same region of the globe. Captain 

 Weddell, in his " Voyage towards the South Pole," speaks of its occurrence at 

 the South Orkneys, and on the mainland of South Shetland. Of this species, 

 a specimen in the Edinburgh Museum is the only one recorded as having 

 reached Europe. It has been figured and described in the " Naturalist's 

 Library," in a monograph on the Amphibious Carnivora, which foi'ms the 

 twenty-fifth volume of that collection. It is from the comparison of this 

 drawing, and Captain Weddell's description of his Leopard Seal, with the seals 

 captured here, that I have concluded that the latter belong to a new species. 

 The shape of the head is, I think, conclusive on this point ; our New Zealand 

 seals being by no means so typically narrow-muzzled as the Leopard Seal. The 

 following table of measurements (attached) shows very clearly the divided 

 differences between Weddellii, and the species which I presume to be new to 

 science. Whilst the length of the Edinburgh specimen is nearly one-half 

 greater than that of the largest of ours, and its greatest girth almost double, 



brcmglit to Europe, and did not lead to the idea that the seals, in question, could belong to 

 that species. There is reason to believe that the measurements of the head of Weddellii, 

 given by Dr. Hamilton, from the stuffed specimen in the Edinburgh Museum, under-rate 

 its width. In the seals caught here, the mass of fat, etc., between the skin of the head, 

 and the skull, was very considerable. — J. S.W. 



The skeleton of a specimen of this seal, captured in Wellington Harbour, in 1S40, 

 was sent to England, accompanied by full anatomical notes by Dr. F. Knox. — Catalogue 

 of Wliales and Seals in the British Museum. J. E. Gray, F.K.S., page 16. — En. 



