HYDROGRAPHY. 325 



east of Bear Island the ice-cold Spitzbergen current runs 

 southward over a very shallow bottom. The soundings 

 show a sort of connecting ridge from 1200 to 1300 fathoms 

 deep between Bear Island and Jan Mayen. During this 

 most successful cruise the members of the expedition were 

 the same as last year Captain Wille, of the Norwegian 

 Navy, being in command of the Voringen; Dr. H. Mohn, 

 meteorologist ; Drs. Sars, Danielssen, and Friele, zoologists ; 

 Messrs. Torncee and Schmelck, chemists; and Mr. Schiertz, 

 the landscape-painter, as artist. 



A Dutch Arctic expedition has, during the last summer, 

 been engaged in the exploration of the Barentz Sea, lying be- 

 tween Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya. The small schooner 

 specially constructed at Amsterdam for the purpose was 

 fitted out and placed under command of Captain de Bruyne, 

 of the Dutch Navy, who lias been assisted by a small staff 

 of scientific observers. The expedition, after performing the 

 intended work, has returned in safety ; but a detailed ac- 

 count of the results has not yet been received. Valuable 

 experience of the ice-movements in the Barentz Sea was ac- 

 quired, deep-sea soundings and dredgings were made, and a 

 systematic record was kept of meteorological and magnetic 

 observations. 



The preliminary Polar expedition, sent from the United 

 States in the schooner Florence^ under command of Captain 

 Tyson, has returned, Congress not having seen fit to au- 

 thorize the necessary expenditure for carrying out the plan 

 proposed by Captain Howgate, U.S.A., of locating one or 

 more colonies within the Arctic regions to make scientific 

 expeditions as opportunity should occur. The Florence was 

 frozen in, during the latter part of November, at the head 

 of Cumberland Gulf, a point never before visited by a natu- 

 ralist. The fauna was found to be nearly identical with 

 that of Baffin's Bay. 



In August, 1878, an island, hitherto unknown, was dis- 

 covered between the northern end of Novaya Zemlya and 

 Cape Cheljuskin by Captain E. Johannesen, commanding a 

 Norwegian whaling-vessel. The island, which its discover- 

 er has named Lonely Island (Ensomheden), is about eleven 

 miles long, north and south, and four miles east and west, its 

 centre lying in lat. 11 36' N., and long. 86 W. Its height 



