146 NATURAL SCIENCE. September. 



sledges, snow-shoes, and two kajaks. They progressed slowly, partly 

 over dangerous ice, partly over open water, till on April 8, 1895, they 

 reached 86° 14' N,, being only 420 kilometres (about 252 miles) from the 

 pole, about longitude 50° E. Icebergs made further advance north- 

 wards impossible, so turning towards the east they came, on August 6, 

 to the north coast of Franz Josef Land, which they crossed, and on 

 August 26 again came to open water, in 81° 13' N. Here they wintered 

 in a hut built of stone, earth, and sealskin, with a bearskin for a door, 

 shooting seals and polar bears, whose flesh they ate and whose fat 

 they burned in a lamp made of sledge bolts. The dogs had to be 

 killed one by one as food for the rest, till at last none were left. On 

 May 19, of this year, the two men set out with the intention of reach- 

 ing Spitzbergen, and after six weeks' journey, fell in with the Jackson 

 expedition, in whose winter quarters they stayed for a month and a 

 half. At last they returned on board the " Windward," reaching the 

 Vardo at 4.30 p.m., on Thursday, August 13. Nansen reports that 

 all on board the " Fram " were well when he left, and had provisions 

 for 6 years, with 100 tons of coal. He believes that they must by this 

 have reached the east coast of Greenland, and that it will not be long 

 before they are in Bergen. 



So far as they can be gathered from the brief telegrams as yet to 

 hand, the chief scientific results of Nansen's expedition are as 

 follows. The existence of a current running across the polar sea 

 from Siberia to Greenland is proved. Petermann Land does not 

 appear to exist ; in fact, no great land masses are to be found in this 

 region north of 82° lat. On the other hand, many unnamed islands 

 have been charted. Nansen seems to think that his wintering place 

 was not actually on Franz Josef Land, but that there is an error in 

 ■von Payer's map. Besides this, there can be little doubt that 

 both by Nansen and by those left on, board the " Fram " 

 many observations have been made of scientific importance. So 

 trained an observer as the zoologist of Bergen is not likely to have let 

 slip any opportunities. The cost of this expedition was about 

 ;^23,ooo : such vast results have rarely been obtained with so small 

 an expenditure of money, or, as we hope it is safe to add, with so little 

 loss of human life. 



[At moment of going to press, we learn that the " Fram " arrived 

 safely at Tromso, with all well on board.] 



The Bibliography of Zoology, 



We have received from the Committee of the British Association 

 of Zoological Bibliography and Publication the following communi- 

 cation : — 



" IL is the general opinion of scientific workers, with which the 

 committee cordially agrees: — (i) That each part of a serial publica- 

 tion should have the date of actual publication, as near as may be, 

 printed on the wrapper, and when possible, on the last sheet sent to 



