Tiie Arctic E-Tpeditinn. ] 63 



an elongate tapering- scale covering the suture between these two 

 scales above. Preanal pores distinct, in an angular series ; scale gra- 

 nular, with series of larger, round, convex granules. Tail cylindrical, 

 with rings of larger subangular tubercles, swollen near the vent be- 

 neath, and with large tubercles on each side. 



Coleonyx eleyans. Gray ; head and nape with concentric black streaks ; 

 back and tail with irregular black cross-bands, beneath gray; 

 back with numerous series of roundish tubercles, smaller and 

 more distant on the head and nape, and more crowded on the 

 limbs. 

 Inhab. Belize. Collection of the British Museum. 



XVI. — The Arctic Expedition under the command 

 of Sir John Franklin. 



We have been favoured with the sight of letters from Mr. H. 

 Goodsir, who is attached to this expedition, and hasten to com- 

 municate to our readers an outline of the results already obtained. 

 The zeal ^nd scientific knowledge of our friend Mr. Goodsir have 

 raised high anticipations of the value to natural science of this 

 voyage, and these have, if possible, attained a still greater eleva- 

 tion by what has been already done. It is most satisfactory to 

 learn that the officers of the expedition, and also a considerable 

 number of the men, are most active in rendering every assistance 

 to him in his researches. They have indeed kept him at work 

 almost night and day (if there can be said to be any night in 

 these latitudes), examining, drawing, and describing new or 

 highly interesting animals. 



We will now proceed to give a short account of the voyage, as 

 learned from Mr. Goodsir's letters, which are dated from " Disco 

 in Baffin's Bay, July 7, 1845.'^ 



The earlier part of the voyage was rather tedious, owing to ad- 

 verse and stormy winds, so that the ships were driven far to the 

 north-east, near enough on June 11th to have seen the moun- 

 tains of Iceland, had the state of the atmosphere allowed. On 

 the 22nd they were off Cape Farewell, the southern point of 

 Greenland. Up to this date there were only two days upon 

 which he could make any observations, but the results of these 

 are extremely interesting. On the 10th of June, in lat. 61° 47', 

 long. 14° 14', numerous specimens of a species of Briaretis were 

 obtained, furnishing an important addition to our knowledge of 

 these animals. The presence of " cilia fringing the bifurcated 

 portions of the lateral extremities of its body,'' decides the posi- 

 tion of the genus in nature, and proves that Quoy and Gaimard's 

 idea of its being molluscous is not correct. Its intestinal canal 

 consists of a straight tube with but one oval opening. The re- 



N2 



