3O0 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



having been recorded outside this shelf region in November. In December there are further records 

 of NaupHi, although still only of small numbers, from shallow water in the Bransfield Strait and a 

 single East Wind record of two Second Nauplii late in the month (on the 29th) in the shelf water off 

 the west Graham Land coast. In both localities, however, there are still no records of the Meta- 

 nauplius. Beyond the shelf regions associated with the Graham Land peninsula, in the oceanic water 

 of Weddell West, there are in December seven very small occurrences of deep living forms, three 

 with Second Nauplii only, three with Metanauplii only and one with both Second Nauplii and Meta- 

 nauplii. All seven are from far down in the warm deep current, the majority in the 1000-750 m. layer. 

 It may be noted that there are as yet no deep records of the First Calyptopis which, in the course of 

 the developmental ascent in oceanic water (p. 97), would be expected to make its earliest appearance 

 at the 1000-750 m. level. There must, however, have been a few scattered about there which our nets 

 had failed to strike, for as Fig. 73 shows, by December at any rate, some, having traversed this 

 deep horizon, have in fact already gained the surface. 



Although our December gatherings of deep larvae in Weddell West are small it does not necessarily 

 follow that the hatching of the eggs in this region has so far only been accomplished on a minor scale. 

 It seems more reasonable to suppose that the main mass of the ascending Nauplii, following their 

 hatching deep down in the bottom water (p. 204), had not yet arrived within striking distance of 

 our deepest nets which in this area did not go below 1000 m. The appearance throughout Weddell 

 West in January (Fig. 70) of substantial numbers of deep larvae, Nauplii, Metanauplii and First 

 Calyptopes, between 1000 and 250 m., and of equally large numbers of still later stages in the surface 

 (Fig. 74), suggests rather strongly that this might have been what was happening and that the few 

 Nauplii and Metanauplii found in the deeper layers in December were in fact stragglers from a much 

 larger population approaching from below. The position in this same region in November, when there 

 are not even deep stragglers to be found, is harder to judge. We have, however, five negative observa- 

 tions here down to 2000 m. from which it might be assumed that if hatching does take place on a 

 major scale in November the resultant Nauplii in Weddell West are still very deep. In the shallow 

 water of the north Graham Land shelf region on the other hand the pronounced scarcity of Nauplii 

 and Metanauplii, of which, as every subsequent chart of the deep larval distribution shows, we have 

 continuous evidence from November right through to April, can only it seems mean (p. 200, 

 Fig. 28) that hatching does not take place there except on an insignificant scale. 



Such hatching then as has taken place in November-December, with the single East Wind excep- 

 tion off the west Graham Land coast, is confined (so far as we have observations to show) to the 

 north Graham Land shelf region and the oceanic water of the western part of the Weddell drift. 

 Beyond this region the heavy negative coverage of the South Georgia whaling grounds might again 

 be particularly noted, and so too might the high latitude barrenness (at least in the West Wind drift) 

 of such substantial part of the Pacific sector as has been covered by our vessels. 



January-February. By now, if not indeed before, hatching has manifestly been accomplished on a 

 major scale, large numbers of deep oceanic larvae. Second Nauplii,^ Metanauplii and First Calyptopes, 

 now approaching the end of their long upward climb, having arrived at a level well within the range 

 of our vertical nets, and perhaps the most remarkable feature of their occurrence (Fig. 70) is their 

 pronounced concentration, particularly in January, in the oceanic water of Weddell West, over the 

 very region in fact where the first few deep stragglers were found, scattered about, in December. 

 The reality of the major spawning that seems to be associated with the north Graham Land and 

 adjacent shelf regions, already suggested by the egg charts themselves, can now it seems hardly be 



' There are in fact only two major occurrences of Second Nauplii, because our nets (p. 97) rarely go deep enough below 

 1000 m. to sample the main concentrations of this stage. 



