42 EDWARD A. WILSON. 
fairly represents the distribution of the seal as regards number. It has never been 
found in any abundance, but occurs generally in the pack ice, and almost always singly. 
Its range extends over a wide area (40° W. lat. to 160° E. lat.) from the neighbour- 
hood of Alexandra Land westwards to the pack ice of Ross Sea, and in rather increasing 
numbers towards the Balleny Islands. 
In the ‘ Discovery’ we procured two males and a female in our short passage of a 
week through the belt of ice pack, while Dr. Davidson, in the ‘Morning,’ who made the 
passage on two occasions, procured three more examples, all of which were males (figs. 27, 
28, and 29, p.44). It is strange how far more frequently males have been procured than 
females. Of the four specimens obtained by the ‘ Southern Cross’ three were males. 
A young Ross’ Seal has quite recently been reported by the Argentine Expedition 
as having been captured on the shores of the South Orkney Islands. How young this 
specimen may be I do not yet know, but it is interesting that it should have occurred 
so near to land. No example has been found in the natal woolly coat, neither do we 
even know whether Ommatophoca is born in the usual woolly covering of seal infancy 
or whether this is shed in utero. Its breeding habits are wholly unknown, and though 
it is safe to conjecture that it produces its young about the same time as the other 
Antarctic seals, and in the open pack ice, it remains still for some expedition, wintering 
as did the ‘ Belgica’ in the open pack, to prove it. 
The new-born young of Macrorhinus are described as black; those of Cysto- 
phora are white, born in a woolly coat, which is very soon discarded. Analogy, 
therefore, does not help us to guess, though it will be a point of great interest to know, 
what is the appearance of the new-born young of Ommatophoca. The white colour of 
the young of Cystophora suggests, as Captain Barrett Hamilton says, that this species 
may have been a more strictly Polar animal; and one may perhaps expect the same 
colour also in the young of Ominatophoca. 
There seems to be a far greater difference in the size of the male and female in 
Cystophora and Macrorhinus than in Ommatophoca, a number of whose dimensions are 
here given, taken from the animals in the flesh. 
‘Discovery’ CoLLECTION. 
| cin at | Ginth at | Suceyte | Sidete | Sideto | Sideto | side to 
ae irth a irth a side dia | side dia- | side dia- | side dia- | side dia- 
No | Sex req peg d the arm- the meter meter meter meter meter 
. *| @nd throat [ndnehiae.| prea umbilicus} taken ftaken 6ins.) taken taken 1 | taken 2 
“| inches. |in inches. |12ins. from|from nose} atthe | foot from | feet from 
nose tip. tip. shoulders.| tail tip. | tail tip. 
Pale chin : : 
: 3 |and throat.) 84 ve on 16 8 203 10 163 
‘ Pale chin ; : 
46 3 and throat. 93 = = 13 = — = — 
Pale chin 
14 ie) and: thnont: 84 52 52 16 8 204 10 16 
