1897. SOME NEW BOOKS. i-ji 



When the snow melts in summer, the fresh water is cooled down as it 

 comes in contact with the cold salt water, and at the junction of the 

 two a layer of ice is formed, and gradually becomes attached to the 

 bottom of the old ice. The complication in the structure of the ice is 

 further increasing by the pressure producing overthrusts, and so 

 increasing the thickness of the floes enormously. Naturally the 

 older floes are the thicker ; and the older are those that have drifted 

 further to the west. 



North of Siberia a regular alternation of ice-pressure coinciding 

 with the tides was noticed ; but further west this cause did not seem to 

 operate, and pressure here was due to the winds. The pressure-ridges 

 have a regular direction at right angles to the lines of force. These 

 observations chiefly confirm those made by the " Jeannette." 

 Hummocks very rarely exceed 23 feet in height (above sea-level ?) ; 

 those said to attain 50 feet are either bits of icebergs or creatures of 

 the imagination. 



It is needless here to say more as to the great depths in the 

 polar sea found by this expedition. It does not all appear to have 

 been so deep, but tlie statements are not very precise. The only 

 bottom samples mentioned were obtained in about 82° 50' N., 115° E 

 (exact position nowhere stated) and consisted of " a layer of grey clay 

 4 to 4^ inches thick, and below that brown clay or mud." This was 

 at 800 fms. Two pails of mud dredged up a few days later contained 

 "chiefly starfish, waving starfish, medusae [astvophyton), sea-slugs, 

 coral insects [alcyonaviac), worms, sponges, shell-fish, and crustaceans." 

 This very peculiar list conveys little to one's mind, and it does not 

 convey the idea of great depth. The bottom-temperature here was 

 probably, as before, +0.18° C. ; but neither depth nor temperature are 

 given. The necton about here, at a depth of 27 fms., contained many 

 " small crustaceans (kopepodae, ostyakodae, ainphipodae, etc.) and a little 

 Arctic worm [spaddla) that swims about in the sea." The only other 

 similar statement is that shortly before reaching Franz Josef Land, 

 Nansen caught in the net " a pteropod {Clio bovealis) and a few 

 Crustacea." 



The ice itself yielded many organisms of great interest apparently, 

 though we are told little about them : — Diatoms, algae, and floating 

 in the pools " a number of small viscid lumps, some white, some of a 

 yellowish-red colour " (perhaps some kind of Proteomyxa or Labyrin- 

 thulia). All these seem to float at the junction of the fresh-water 

 layer with the salt water. The dark colour of these organisms, 

 absorbing the sun's rays, helps to melt the ice and so form the pools 

 in which they live. In the pools were also Infusoria, Flagellata, and 

 Bacteria. 



Much attention has already been directed to the quantities of 

 Ross's gull that were observed ; it appears to breed in the N.E. parts 

 of Franz Josef Land. It was first observed in August, at about 

 84° N., 80° E. About this time and place several birds were seen, of 

 which the names are given as follows : '■^ Lams eburneus, L. glaucus, 

 L. argentatus ? [?], Rissa tridactyla, Procellavia glacialis, Una grylle, a 

 skua, and a snow bunting." Procellaria glacialis was also seen the first 

 of any birds on the return sledge journey, May 25, 1895, about 

 82° 50' N., 70° E. On June 18 of the same year Briinnich's guillemot 

 appeared, and two days later, with a west wind, numbers of little 

 auks. The most northerly mammal observed was a fox, or rather his 

 tracks, on April 26, at about 85° N. Next came narwhals on May ig, 

 in about 82° N. Phoca bavhata was not seen till another month and 

 another degree of latitude had been passed. 



