MEASUREMENTS AND WEIGHTS OF ANTARCTIC SEALS. 



569 



of Edinburgh. It is the very antithesis of the Sea-leopard ; instead of being long and 

 lithe, it is rather short and bulky, though of remarkably graceful form. It is charac- 

 terised by a very thick neck, which it has the power of dilating at will. The weight 

 of the female we obtained was 475 lbs,, and that of the male 400 lbs., and probably 

 this represents the average weight. 



On board the Balmia Mr Burn Murdoch and I obtained what was almost certainly a 

 very young Ross Seal, which we were bringing on board alive, but which the late Captain 

 Fairweather ordered to be killed. The skin was thrown into a heap with the rest, and 

 the carcase was left on the ice. The illusions of ignorance consequently robbed science 

 for the time being of an interesting discovery. The chief food of the Ross Seal is 

 cuttle-fish, and the stomach of one of those we secured had the beaks and remnants of 

 cuttle-fish in it. It must, therefore, be swift in the water to catch these swift inverte- 

 brates, but its teeth are of extremely small and delicate character, which is all that 

 is necessary for such soft diet. There were apparently fish scales in the stomach of one 

 of the animals, but these were probably the scales of small fishes. 



Length = Tip oj- Nose to Tip oj- Tall. 



NecK Girth 

 Rst to Occiput 



AxiUdry 

 Girth- 



Greatest 

 Girth 



Anal 



or 



Least Girth 



Anterior 



or 



NeckGlrlrh 



Diagram illustrating Seal Measurements. 



Otaria jubata (the Patagonian Sea-lion). 



Little need be said regarding this well-known species which, as already indicated, 

 is not Antarctic in distribution, keeping clear of the ice limit. There are a considerable 

 number of these animals round the shores of the Falkland Islands, where they live 

 among the thick tussock grass. 



