189 



a pair of individuals ; but upon the island platform they are 

 made of sticks of fresh Me^emhryanthiinum, and nearer to the 

 sea of wrack and dried seaweed. The larger nests are com- 

 plicated within, a series of passages and chambers being made 

 in the heap of collected debris,; but the smaller nests consist 

 of an entrance run, a central chamber, and an exit run only. 

 Upon the sea beaches a whisp of wrack tucked in between 

 two boulders, or some seaweed collected in a cleft in the granite 

 rocks suffices for a home. In any case, the nests smell badly, 

 the lining is stained yellow, and reeks of ammonia; and all 

 nests examined were tenanted by a beetle (Ectro-ma heneflca, 

 Newm.). 



Quite a large proportion of the rat population lives upon 

 the sea beaches, beneath and between the granite boulders 

 which lie scattered along the shore. The staple article of 

 diet is the succulent leaves of Tetragona implexicoma, and 

 enormous quantities are consumed. It would appear that the 

 rats also do' a certain amount of scavenging along the tide 



Arctocephalus forsterL External characters of the head 

 and face. From a young male specimen. 



line, for their footprints are always to be seen along the 

 sand, right down to low-water mark. There is no fresh water 

 upon the islands. 



The breeding season is evidently in the colder months 

 of the year, for during the time that visits have been paid 

 to the islands (November-February) no pregnant or nursing 

 females or very young animals have been obtained. 



