KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 40. NIO 5. 19 



day afterwards, but not having any suitable food for them he could not raise them. 

 From the snout to the tip of the tail one of these foetuses measured 1,13 m. It 

 was c ut out of the mother-seal the 24th of Aug. 1905. Others at that time were 

 of similar size. The 15th of Aug. a foetus was taken which measured 95 cm. 1 



A foetus cut out by Sörling the 20th of July measured about 80 cm. The 

 ratio of growth of the foetus from May (44 to 48 cm.) to July (80 cm.) and to Au- 

 gust (95—113 cm.) is thus known. Probably the young are born the last days of 

 August or in the first half of September, but where has not yet been stated and 

 likewise it is unknown when and where the pairing takes place. 



Leptonychotes weddellii (Lesson) 1826. 



syn.: Otaria weddellii Lesson 1826. 



Stenorhynchus » Lesson 1827. 

 Leptonyx » Gray 1837. 



Leptonychotes » Gill 1880. 



J 1 juv. (skin etc.) Boiler Harbour, Cuniberland Bay, the lOth of April 1905, »Iris brown». 

 $ jnv. (skull) Moraine Fjord, Cuniberland Bay, the It of Sept. 1905. 

 $ juv. (skull) Cuniberland Bay, the 24th of Sept. 1905. 



WeddelPs seal does not appear to be a regular inhabitant of the seas round 

 South Georgia. The German Expedition 1882 — 83 did not observe it there, nor did 

 the Swedish Expedition 1902. 



Sörling observed, however, specimens of this kind several times in the winter, 

 so that it seems probable that single individuals during the winter, more or less fre- 

 quently, stray so far north as to South Georgia. It may even be more common 

 there than it appears to be, because it does not stay so long time at the same place 

 as the other species of seals do, nor d.oes it go so far up on land when ascending 

 the beach as the others do. »I never saw any Weddell seal higher up on the beach», 

 Sörling says, »than at most two meters from the water line, and I sometimes ob- 

 served it lying at the waters edge so that the hind flippers lay in the water or at 

 least in the spray from the waves. When one approaches this seal it does not open 

 the mouth nor howl, but only tries to escape into the water as quickly as possible. 

 It appears to be very shy and nervous when one comes near to it.» These Sörling's 

 observations must, however, be seen in the light of the fact that at least the greater 

 part of the animals seen by him were young and all of them single. 



The first specimen was seen in the Moraine Fjord, Cuniberland Bay the 2d 

 of April 1905. It lay close to the water and went into the sea before it could 

 be killed. 



The second was the young male recorded above as killed the lOth of April 

 1905. 



1 The mother seal of this measured 3, 37 ra, in length. 



