Underwater calls of Leptonychotes (Weddell seal)

THAT the Antarctic seal Leptonychotes weddelli (Lesson) 1826 produces a variety of calls underwater has been known at least since E. A. Wilson's account (1907, pp. 12, 14, and especially 16).He described the calls graphically, recounted hearing the seals calling beneath the ship as well as beneath the ice, and supposed that the calls were communicative.Unfortunately his observations have been missed by later workers, including the senior author (Schevill, Backus & Hersey, 1962, p. 549).More recent observers have seemed reluctant to consider that the calls were made underwater, and presumed that the seals were calling in air trapped under the ice; for example, Lindsey 1937Lindsey , pp. 139, 143 (though (pers.comm., 1951 ) ) he helieved that some of the calls were made submerged), and Perkins, 1945, p. 278.Lindsey recorded the in-air calls phonographically in November, 1934; his record was not published, but he