5^ DISCOVERY REPORTS 



circumpolar sea, a belt extending virtually all round Antarctica east about from 30° E to 40° W. 

 They would strike it in fact only round South Georgia and along a narrow northerly strip of the 

 Weddell drift, and elsewhere only south-east of Kerguelen where there is strong deflection from the 

 East Wind zone. They would probably not, however, strike it between 30° and 60° E, for although 

 this is a region affected by overflow from the Weddell stream such overflow it seems (p. 384) occurs 

 principally in spring and not, on any major scale, at other times of the year. Between 30° and 95° E, 

 it will be seen, the krill appear to be concentrated at or very near the ice-edge. This in fact is only 

 an appearance that springs from the coincidence of the winter ice-edge with the northern limit of 

 abundance of this species between those meridians. 



PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT 



Pack-ice 



Among the many references to this species in Antarctic literature there are some stressing its abundance 



in the open sea, others that it is essentially a creature of ice-infested water, par excellence of the polar 



pack. The latter predominate. 



Borchgrevink (1895), for instance, referring to the multitudes that frequent the pack-ice near the 

 Balleny Islands, naively declares that they are 'usually found to be swimming about in cavities in the 

 ice-floes, evidently seeking a refuge from their enemies, the whales, which feed principally upon them '. 

 Bull (1896) again, commenting on the scarcity of whales encountered by the 'Antarctic' in the 

 inner ice-free zone of the Ross Sea in January 1895, states that this was rather to be expected since 

 the small crustaceans on which these animals fed were most abundant 'under and between the 

 floes '. In another reference to this ice-free zone he adds, ' Only a few whales are observed, from 

 which we conclude that they prefer the ice, with its millions of red "shrimps" and molluscs'. 

 Racovitza (1903) remarks on its great abundance in the pack-ice of the Bellingshausen Sea, Andersson 

 (1905) on the muhitudes that occur at the surface 'besonders neben eisschoUen ', while Holt and 

 Tattersall (1906), referring to the Ross Sea area, say, 'All were taken outside the barrier ice, and as 

 Mr Hodgson seems to have fished the waters below the ice very thoroughly, it may be taken that 

 E. superba is a creature of the open sea'.^ Trouessart (1907) refers to the Euphatisia 'qui forment de 

 veritables bancs dans la mer libre et qui s'avancent rarement sous la glace', Menegaux (1907) and 

 Liouville (1913) to its abundance near icebergs, Wilson (19076) to the vast numbers 'frequenting 

 chiefly the pack-ice, the edges of the icefloes, or the foot of the ice cliffs which form the sea faces of 

 the Barrier 2 snow plains ' and Gain (i 91 4) to the ' enormous bancs ' of this species ' frequentant le plus 

 souvent la lisiere du pack, la voisinage des icebergs et celui des glaciers en bordure du continent '. 

 Brown (1920) remarks on the local abundance of these animals so often betrayed by congregating 

 birds, adding 'but their scarcity in ice-free waters is characteristic. Among the pack they seem more 

 plentiful '. Risting (1922) also remarks on the prodigious quantities that frequent the ice-edge, ' hvori 

 blaavalen fraadset, idet den gik frem og tilbake langs iskanten'. Mackintosh and Wheeler (1929) 

 record its enormous abundance in the ice-free waters round South Georgia, adding that it is to be 

 found in dense shoals usually in the neighbourhood of land. Ruud (1932) records precisely the 

 opposite, noting its occurrence far from land and known banks, but always in close proximity to the 

 pack. He continues, ' Our whalers always tried to follow the drifting ice, partly in order to be in water 

 which was calm enough for handling the carcases and partly because the blue whale prefers to frequent 



1 It should be noted, however, that Mr Hodgson's negative results below the ice were simply due to the fact that he was 

 fishing in a part of the Ross Sea where E. superba is now known (p. 124) not to occur. 



^ This must refer to the Ross Barrier and it could not have been E. superba that Edward Wilson saw swarming there. It 

 must in fact (p. 124) have been E. crystallorophias. 



