290 THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



moccasins, and the meat was quite eatable. The stomach 

 contained worms, which were very much like the ascaris 

 lumbricoides of man. On the last day of the month Mr. 

 Collins added a fine jager, species Buffonii, to the collection. 



On the afternoon of August 3d a smoky haze with a strong 

 smoky smell was very apparent, Its cause I must leave the 

 reader to conjecture. In August, Mr. Chipp shot two sand- 

 pipers {A. metadata) ; these proved an interesting addition 

 to our collection. Fish were never plenty, but a small 

 species of cod ( G-. gradlUs), h-omc six inches long, was fre- 

 quently seen during the brief summer season. 



During this month I often noticed patches of snow some- 

 times blood-red, at other times nearer a brown ; and, by 

 viewing these deposits from different points, one could 

 readily see exquisite shades of blue, green, purple, and crim- 

 son. These deposits were nearly always on old floe. 1 had 

 not the chance to study it which I desired, but I think it 

 was algae, the same as or allied with Pamclla nivalis. 



During the first part of September a small flight of phala- 

 ropes (.P. fidicarius') occurred. They seldom stopped, but 

 moved in small flocks of six or eight in a general direction 

 from northeast to southwest. In consequence of the wasting 

 away of the ice, particularly where cracks had been, lanes 

 of water were formed. The lanes connected with the ocean 

 by holes, but were on the average only three feet deep, with 

 the ice between this water and the ocean proper. I often 

 paddled a kayak about these lanes, sometimes several 

 miles, taking the gun with me. Surface ponds, in extent 

 sometimes of several acres, also formed ; to paddle about 

 these was quite enjoyable ; then, too, the possibility of pick- 

 ing up a specimen added to the interest. Though ice had 

 formed over pond-holes, it was not strong enough to bear a 

 man until about September 6th. Among the things found 

 on the ice this season were pieces of wood and parts of trees, 

 both birch and fir, and parts of two skeletons of good-sized 

 codfish. These last evidently had been caught much farther 



