KtJNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 40. N:0 5. 15 



phant-seals lie on land fchey sometimes make with them very funny-looking move- 

 ments as wiping the nose, scratching the head or back and so on. Simular observa- 

 tions ha ve been made by different authors and von den Steinen (12) emphasizes 

 the facetiousness of the movements and looks of the Elephant-seals. 



Sörling could not find out wherein the food of these animals consisted. The 

 stomachs of those he killed contained only sand, sometimes in considerable quantities, 

 several htres. Remains of fish he did not observe at any time. It appears from 

 this most probable to the present writer that the Elephant-seals feed on invertebrate 

 animals which they collect at the bottom and then together with the food accidentally 

 swallow the sand. Cephalopods are the chief food of their northern relative, Cystophora, 

 and beaks of such have once been found in the stomach of an Elephant-seal by 

 Péron, but no snch were observed by Sörling. 



The habits of the Elephant-seals of Kerguelen Island as described by the >Ga- 

 zelle » -Expedition (15) are very different in many respects. It is said for instance 

 that the fore-flippers are not used by the Elephant-seals, when crawling on land, but 

 held pressed to the body, but the hind-flippers should be »etwas vorgezogen» and 

 pressed towards the ground (>aufgestemmt»). Then the animal should support 

 itself on these (»auf diese gestutzt») and throw the body forward, again move the 

 hind-flippers forward, put them to the ground and so on. If this statement should 

 be eorrect and not based on erroneous observations it would be exceedingly peculiar 

 if the behaviour of the Elephant-seals on Kerguelen Island should be so fundamen- 

 tally different from that of its congeners on South Georgia. 1 



The habits of propagation of the Elephant-seals of Kerguelen Island as told in 

 the work mentioned (15) are said to be quoted from the narrative of a captain 

 Fttller of a sealing schooner. This narrative appears also very mysterious and it 

 seems probable that it has been based on observations on Sea-lions, Sea-bears or 

 other eared seals rather than on Elephant-seals. It is namely said that an old bull, 

 a »beach-master», shall collect a herd of females and youngs, up to 100, and watch 

 these with great jealousy defending them against the intrusion of other bulls. The 

 victorious bull is then said tö satisfy a great number of females. Compared with 

 the direct and repeatedly verified observations made on South Georgia (conf. von 

 den Steinen (12)) this narrative certainly must be regarded as very doubtful. 



Hall (1. c.) says that the Elephant-seals of Kerguelen Land did not agree 

 with a plate of Lesueur »in respect to the eyebrow bristles», and he adds »The 

 »Elephants» here have no conspicuous eyebrow». On the qoted plate there is a row 

 of bristles above the eyelid and such, although not so numerous as on the plate, 

 were present in all South Georgia specimens, young and old, of both sexes. 



An adult bull of the South Georgia »Elephants» may have a blubber-coat of 



1 Hall says abotrt the Elephant-seals of Kerguelen Land »they are slow crawlers, using only 



two flippers, and the snake-like action of vertebrae and mnscles» (»The Zoologist» 1900 p. 443), but which 

 flippers he does not mention, although itjnight be assumed that he means the anterior. 



