COLLECTING IN ANTARCTIC SEAS. 5 



hence vegetable life to which light is essential is reduced to the minute forms 

 pertaining to the Plankton. 



A large Laminarian was dragged up by the anchor in Arrival Bay and was 

 unfortunately thrown away ; this was the only seaweed found within ten miles of 

 the ship. A quantity of red Alga) was found off the shore of Tent Island, and more 

 again at Cape Eoyds. Bepeated dredgings inside the 20-fathom line in Winter 

 Harbour produced nothing whatever in the way of seaweeds, and dragging in Arrival 

 Bay for Laminaria, carried out because it had once been found there, was equally 

 unsuccessful. 



As soon as the Sound was frozen over the biological work was carried on through 

 holes in the ice. It was soon found that these holes had to be made large, and at the 

 beginning they were about six feet square. The ice taken from them had to go 

 somewhere, and as any irregularity of surface caused drift to accumulate, the blocks 

 were placed to windward and built up as a wall. In a comparatively short time this 

 developed into a circular shelter some fifteen feet in diameter and six to ten feet high, 

 having a small entrance to leeward. 



As one could work in perfect comfort in these shelters all through the winter, 

 the work was scarcely interrupted. One had, however, to buy wisdom with experience. 

 At first the drift was allowed to accumulate outside against the wall, an error which 

 caused an immense amount of trouble, drift getting in over the top to the serious 

 hindrance of the work. It is absolutely imperative that the outside of such shelters 

 shall be kept vertical, then the bulk of the drift is kept out, as it invariably beats 

 back from a vertical face. As continuance of the work throughout the winter 

 was not expected, the routes to these shelters were not marked out, and frequently 

 they were very difficult to find in the dark ; this occasioned a further considerable 

 loss of time. 



After the blizzard at the beginning of May, 1902, when the ice was blown out 

 of the Sound and open water came to within 100 yards of the ship, advantage was 

 taken of the circumstance to sink 100 fathoms of line over the edge of the remaining 

 ice, the two ends being secured to the ice 100 yards apart. When the Sound was 

 again frozen over, a suitable hole was cut at each end of this line, then a light trawl 

 (commonly called the D net on account of the shape of its frame), and an additional 

 line was attached, so that the net could be hauled backwards and forwards underneath 

 the ice. This proved an exceedingly profitable investment till one of the ropes broke, 

 then operations were suspended. At intervals, however, cracks occurred in the ice 

 across the mouth of the Harbour, and through some of these the bight of a line was 

 forced for 100 yards; this came to be regarded as the practical working distance. 

 New holes were cut and fresh lines rove, the rest of the work proceeding as before. 

 This operation was not conducted without difficulty or delay from various causes. 



Another serious impediment to the work of the first winter was the formation of 

 ice crystals on the nets and lines. At the end of May, 1902, two tow-nets were 



