THE CRAB-EATING SEAL. 39 
The following table gives measurements, taken in the flesh, of specimens collected 
by Dr. Davidson, on the ‘ Morning’ :— 
Nose to Greatest Length of Breadth of Length of Spread of 
Sex. tail, girth, foreflipper, foreflipper, hindflipper, hindflipper, 
in imches. ininches. ininches. ininches. ininches, in inches. 
No. 59 é 80 53 16 11 18 20 
» 68 ? 93 564 16 11 16 183 
» 61 é 91 55 18 13 17 25 
» 98 é 82 57 17 9 17 164 
» OF é 87 55 16 10 173 23 
» 76 é 95 56 18 94 183 18 
» @ é 89 544 17} 9} 173 21 
3 1S é 84 504 16 9} 17 17 
Lobodon careinophagus, far more than any other Antarctic seal, presents in 
its skin the scars and wounds which have drawn the attention of naturalists for 
many years. They have proved a fertile source of discussion and speculation, not 
only on account of their scientific interest, but because the commercial value of 
such scarred skins is much reduced. It is certainly true that the greater number 
of Lobodon skins taken in the Antarctic ice are damaged by long rents. These 
may present themselves as freshly inflicted wounds, deep and gaping through skin 
and blubber to the flesh, or as shining white scars formed by the healing of such 
wounds. 
“Half the pack seals are worthless from scarring. Scars frequently running 
parallel up to twelve inches long and about one inch apart, chiefly on the sides 
and lower parts of the body.” Thus Mr. Bull, whose interest in the voyage 
of the ‘Antarctic’ was largely a commercial one. He suggests, further, that 
the Iceland ground sharks may have some Antarctic counterpart in an animal 
with similar habits, and were it not that the abundance of Orca gladiator in 
the South makes such a surmise hardly necessary, the suggestion would be a 
good one. 
Captain Jensen, too, whose interests were also to some extent commercial, has 
remarked upon the fact, saying that many of the “ Grey Seals” taken were more or less 
cut up with scars and wounds in the skin. 
Captain Kristensen thinks that the wounds are made by a sword-bearing animal. 
It is well, therefore, in the light of these suggestions to examine carefully the nature 
of the wounds that are so commonly found on the Antarctic seals, not one species 
of the whole number being altogether free, though Lobodon appears to be more subject 
to them than any other. 
Leptonychotes I have myself seen on one or two rare occasions with large, gaping 
wounds upon the side, although it is, on the whole, wonderfully free from them. Amongst 
thirty skins of Leptonychotes in the ‘ Discovery’s’ collection not one can show the typical 
scars, though many of the males can of course show fighting scars, the short and 
