2^8 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



the Bransfield Strait, which, for the period November to March, is shown in Fig. 68. There, it 

 will be seen, such significant concentrations as were encountered, without exception, occur on the 

 continental slope just on, or at no great distance beyond, the 500 m. line. In the very shallow water 

 of the shelf itself, however, and in the deep water beyond they are absent or conspicuously few. 



62 



60° 



58 



56° 



DEPTH KEY 



I : 



LESS THAN soom;: 



MORE THAN SOOM:: 



62 





es 54° 



'"."^ 



W 



162 



C' 



^ 



(:/'; ■■'■■ ■ j~^-^^^'<t v\\ 



r 



60° 



58 



56 



Fig. 68. Distribution of eggs in the Bransfield Strait area, showing tendency for the principal concentrations to be massed 

 on or close to the continental slope. Note hatching over the land and the dark stipple over the deeper waters. 



The deep living Nauplii, Metanauplii and First Calyptopes^ 



November-December. Our earliest records of this group, represented by Nauplii and Metanauplii, 

 come in November-December (Fig. 69), and as might be expected so early in the season all are 

 of very small numbers. Their distribution, however, seems significant, for it points to a hatching, or 

 rather series of hatchings, having taken place over an area corresponding exactly, whether in shelf or 

 oceanic water, with that throughout which the eggs themselves were first recorded. In other words 

 the distribution of the Nauplii and Metanauplii for this period provides some further evidence that 

 the November-December spawning is in fact a discrete one and not a general occurrence all round 

 Antarctica. It is to be noted that some of these deep larvae were at the same stations or even in the 

 same samples as the eggs, but some were at different stations in the same area, and these are the more 

 significant. The first Nauplii to be recorded were taken in November in the shallow shelf water^ of 

 the Bransfield Strait. They occurred at four stations, one Second Nauplius at each. No Metanauplii 

 were taken in this locality then. The distribution of the Nauplii it will be seen in the first month of 

 their appearance coincides with that of the eggs for the same period, no deep living larvae whatsoever 



' Or total deep living larvae. 



- The anomalous occurrences of Nauplii or Metanauplii not far from the surface in shelf water have already been explained 

 on pp. 204-5. 



