THE CRAB-EATING SEAL. . 37 
quite a common thing to find grains of sand and grit wedged in immovably between 
them, they are very rarely broken. If in extreme old age a seaweed diet is preferred, it 
is possible that in wrenching this from the rocks upon which it grows, the teeth might 
show some such effect in wear, though one thing is certain, that in the great majority 
of adult skulls there is hardly any sign of wear at all. Occasionally the remains 
of some small fish are found in the stomach of this seal mixed up with the Euphausie, 
but the latter form its diet in the main, and, measuring up to half an inch or more, 
may often be found undamaged in the contents of the stomach. The pigment of this 
schizopod is passed unaltered in colour in the- excreta, colouring them brick red. It 
surprised us not a little, after reading that the stomachs of all the seals which 
Mr. Borchgrevink saw captured in the pack were empty, to find that the stomachs of 
those we captured, in the same month, and in the same state of partial moult, were 
replete with food. The moulting Crab-eater neither shuns water nor prefers to starve 
while his coat is being shed (see Author’s notes in ‘Southern Cross’ Report), and the 
discrepancy between our respective observations must have been accidental. 
The moult of Lobodon, which occurs in January and February, follows a regular 
course, beginning, as in Weddell’s Seal, on the limbs both hind and fore, and 
spreading in a line from the head to the tail, mid-dorsally. From this it spreads down 
the sides, and also from the belly, the sides often retaining some old bleached hair for a 
considerable time. The change in colour resulting from the moult varies a good deal, 
not according to the sex, but according to the age of the individual. Young adult 
Crab-eaters, when freshly moulted, are very handsome animals, for their hair is 
unusually silvery, not white, but grey, and the ring-marks which appear very 
constantly on the flanks, shoulders, and sides of the head are of a rich chocolate brown 
colour. One example was brought home from Cape Adare by the ‘Southern Cross’ 
Expedition, which represented the stage of transition from the natal moult. Before it 
was tanned it had a good deal of the long whitish wool that characterises the infant at 
birth, as in the example which was procured by the ‘Belgica’ Expedition. This fur 
was lost, unfortunately, in the tanning process, as it was actually being moulted 
when the seal was killed, and the coat which appeared beneath showed only the usual 
mottling of the young adult. 
This mottling is a very variable feature even in the unweathered phase which 
immediately follows the moult. As a whole the hair is silky and of a warm brownish 
grey, darker mid-dorsally, silvery white ventrally, and ring-marked with a rich warm 
brown. The ground colour, so to speak, of the whole animal is this dark brown, and 
upon it the silver grey may be considered to have been developed in the shape of oval 
spots, but to so great an extent that the spots are confluent over the whole body, 
except on the flanks, shoulders, sides of upper neck or head, and to a very variable 
extent over the remainder of the body. In one specimen, which unfortunately was 
not procured, as also in No. 19 of the ‘ Discovery’ collection, the white spots are not 
altogether confluent on any part of the body, the result being a beautifully spotted seal. 
D2 
