ZOOLOGY 



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speculate at present, and I have only made the foregoing 

 remarks to show that there are many interesting and curious 

 problems which it is to be hoped a close study of the ' Dis- 

 covery's ' meteorological records will solve. 



Vertebrate Zoology. — This department, with exceptions, lay 

 in Dr. Wilson's hands, and as it is one which must excite a 

 very general interest I have asked him to supply to this book 

 a summary of his work. To this I can add little except to 

 remark that, if the birds and beasts that came under his 

 observation were few in species as compared with those 

 observed by others, it is because our expedition laboured 

 on the limit of such life, and for the first time travelled 

 beyond its limit. It is only reasonable that the expedition 

 which most deeply penetrates the sterile polar area should 

 have least to record in this respect. 



Invertebrate Zoology. — The readers of my narrative will 

 have gathered that Mr. Hodgson, our biologist, was a very 

 active member of our community, and I certainly breathed a 

 sigh of relief when I learned that his collections had been safely 

 received at the British Museum. But this is only the commence- 

 ment of the work which has to be done in this connection, 

 and it will be many months, and possibly years, before the full 

 results of this important department are published. 



Physical Work. — The most important branch of this work 

 carried out by our expedition was that connected with mag- 

 netism. The magnetic work may be divided into three 

 classes : that done at sea, that done at the shore station, and 

 that done on sledge journeys. The first consists of obser- 

 vations taken around the belt of the Southern Seas and 

 throughout the area of the Ross Sea ; the second, of the 

 continuous records taken with the variometer instruments; 

 and the third, of the important observations taken by Mr. 

 Bernacchi on the Barriers, others taken by Mr. Armitage 

 to the west, and observations for declination taken on my 

 southern and western journeys. The reduction of all these 

 data requires much patience and skill, and it must be a long 

 while ere the full results are made known ; but it can at least 



VOL. II. Y 



