Nouvelle-Hollande: Ile King. L’Ele…

Famous c.19th engraving of elephant seals on King Island, from the accounts of the French voyage of exploration under the command of Nicholas Baudin who visited the island on 6th December 1802. The naturalists from the expedition camped for several days at Sea Elephant Bay on King Island in Bass Strait where they collected specimens of two native cats.

Common name: Southern Elephant Seal
Binomial name: Mirounga leonina
First described: Linnaeus 1758
Distribution: Occasional annual sightings in Tasmania.

From Peron, Voyage de decouvertes aux terres australes, execute sur les corvettes le Geographe, le Naturaliste et la goelette le Casuarina, pendant les annees 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804 … Paris.

References:
Dunmore, J. French Explorers in the Pacific. Oxford 1965-69 : vol. II, pp. 9-40
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 : 449
Hill, J. The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages. San Diego 1974 : 1329
Perry, T. & Prescott, D. A Guide to Maps of Australia in Books Published 1780-1830. Canberra 1996: 1811.12
Sharp, A. The Discovery of Australia. Oxford 1963 : pp. 232-39
Tooley, R. The Mapping of Australia. London 1979: 616
Wantrup, J. Australian Rare Books. Sydney 1987 : pp. 153-159, [78a-81]

Collections:
Australian National University: 154258130
Bibliotheque Nationale de France: ark:/12148/bpt6k74602q
National Library Australia: Bib ID 87123
Power House Museum: 220290870
State Library New South Wales: 1807-1817 MRB/F980
State Library South Australia: 919.4 P453.2 b
State Library Victoria: RARELTBF 919.4 P42V
State Library Western Australia: 4987B  Vol. 147