KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 40. N:0 5. 11 



Concerning the biology of the Elephant-seals Sörling has made several inter- 

 esting observations. In the middle of November (1904) when he arrived to South 

 Georgia, the Elephant-seals were numerous on the shores. It was then the pairing 

 season. The big old bulls lay high up among the tussock grass with their cows. They 

 might lie there for weeks without going into the sea to procure food. The younger 

 Elephant-seals were found nearer to the sea on the sandy beaches here and there 

 (Pl. III fig. 8. 9 & 10). They lay always together in smaller or larger flocks. Once 

 Sörling counted 28 in one flock. These younger animals went back and forth 

 between land and water, often playing with each other in the water, splashing and 

 diving and biting each other. 



The old bulls appeared as a rule to be monogamous. Only once Sörling ob- 

 served a bull with two cows and a similar observation captain Larsen made once. 

 The cow copulates with the bull while she has a new born sucking calf. The bulls 

 are very jealous and ill-tempered if another bull should approach their cow. And in 

 such cases often bloody fights ensue. The bulls go against each other, stretch up 

 their necks, blow up their proboscis and open widely their big mouths. Finally they 

 raise their body upright so that they rest on the belly and the pectoral fins are 

 lifted from the ground and from such attitudes they throw themselves violently for- 

 ward against the antagonist and try to fix their powerful canines in his head or 

 neck. If they succeed in this, as they often do, pieces of skin and flesh are torn 

 away and deep and ugly wounds are produced. While fighting this way they emit 

 a peculiar sound which perhaps could be called a »bellowing or roaring by starts, 

 intermittent like the neighing of an angry horse». They fight and roar till one of 

 them feels defeated and crawls off. The victorious bull never pursues his rival but 

 Hes down to sleep again. 



When a man approaches a pair, a bull and a cow, during this rutting season, 

 the bull shows its jealousy in such a peculiar manner that it forces or entices the 

 cow to an act of copulation before the «yes of the spectator. Sörling describes this 

 thus: »The bull crawled up to the cow and lay one of his före flipper över her. The 

 cow then lifted up her hind-legs and the bull turned halfway över to the other side 

 and emitted his male organ and then the copulation took place. The female shut 

 her eyes and made some lateral movements in the horizontal plan. The male lay 

 motionless (Pl. IV Fig. 12 & 13). 



If a pair has selected a place they remain there till they are driven away 

 by force. 



As the pairing takes place soon after the birth of the young the development 

 of the foetus must last about but not quite fully a year. The smallest young calf 

 seen by Sörling measured aboufc l r , 25 m. and it was a suckling n ot many weeks old 

 This agrees with the opinion expressed by K. A. Andersson {8) but differs from the 

 same of von den Steinen (12) concerning the size of the young when just born. 

 The former author found namely an uterine foetus already in May have a length of 

 about V 3 m. 



The bulls are very kind and tender-hearted towards the calfs and try to take 



