TERRESTRIAL LIFE IN POLAR ENVIRONMENTS 



549 



the ice-mask melts, green spreads a 

 mantle. At last a vision comes of rip- 

 pling brooks, of singing birds, of blos- 

 soming flowers, and of forest glades in 

 the heart of Antarctica." 



But he adds elsewhere : "x\t present 

 Antarctica lies dead and cold nnder its 

 white winding sheet of snow.'' It is 

 these adverse conditions that the world 

 now confronts. 



It is interesting to note, in passing, 

 that to an American polar artist — F. 

 W. Stokes — the world is indebted for 

 the earliest collection of Antarctic fos- 

 sils. They were only a dozen in niim- 

 ber, but they proved to be of geological 

 importance. Professors Stuart Weller 

 and T. W. Stanton identified three of 

 them as Cretaceous, and it is claimed 

 that they establish the correlation of 

 the Antarctic beds with the "Middle or 

 with the Upper Cretaceous beds of 

 Southern India." What vast geological 

 changes since the time when climatic 

 conditions associated the life forms of 

 tropical India with those of ice-clad 

 Antarctica ! 



In this connection is to be noted the 

 opinion of Dr. H. T. Jensen, of the 

 Shackleton Expedition, 1907-1909. He 

 reports that experiments show the lack 

 of vegetation due not to the poverty of 

 the Antarctic soil but to the severity 

 of the climate. 



In the last Scott expedition there 

 were rare instances of life of the lower 

 orders: green moss, tiny insects — red 

 and blue springtails — which hibernate 

 in or near the moss beds. Taylor re- 

 lates that they were normally "frozen 

 stiff in a thin film of ice, adhering to 

 the stones. When the stone was exposed 

 to the summer sun, and the ice melted, 

 the springtails moved about sluggishly 

 until the sun left them." 



In Adelie Land, Mawson found in 

 fresh-water lakes algje, bacteria, dia- 

 toms, protozoa, and rotifera, mostly 

 microscopic. There were mosses, as 

 also on Gaussberg, and lichens, the last 

 on red sandstone being "an example of 



the most conspicuous vegetation of 

 Adelie Land." ' Antarctic mosses usu- 

 ally grow in clumps with an occasional 

 hepatic in the midst. Sometimes moss 

 and lichens form a small tundra, which 

 is used as a nesting place by skuas and 

 gulls. The luxuriant growths of these 

 mosses and lichens in penguin rook- 

 eries are significant of their origin and 

 continuance. Tiny e3'e-visible insects 

 have been found also. 



Subantarctic islands offer a less hos- 

 tile environment than does the Antarc- 

 tic zone, yet the life of these islands is 

 most scanty. The terrestrial life con- 

 sists almost entirely of insects and vege- 

 tation. Indigenous human and ani- 

 mal life is missing, although there are 

 visitors from the sea. 



The most favorable environment for 

 terrestrial life among these islands is 

 found in the Kerguelen group, latitude 

 forty-nine degrees south, more than 

 twelve hundred miles north of the 

 Antarctic circle, in a latitude corre- 

 sponding with northern Maine. An- 

 nexed to France and occupied as a 

 whaling station, the Kerguelens have 

 been the field of tentative, but not suc- 

 cessful colonization as a stock country. 

 Horses, sheep, and hogs were imported, 

 while unfortunately rabl)its, rats, etc., 

 have invaded the island through visit- 

 ing ships. 



Mr. Henry Bossiere, who passed fif- 

 teen months on the group, furnishes 

 the following information as to the va- 

 rious forms of terrestrial life found 

 there : "Nowhere is to be seen a single 

 tree, but over very extensive areas there 

 grows an Antarctic forage plant, cal'ed 

 acoena. which resembles the pimpernel 

 [the plant which is used by whalers for 

 tea]. It has large roots, suitable for 

 fuel, and its leafy branches rise at 

 times to the height of fifteen to twenty 

 inches. It is the main forage for the 

 stock. Sheep and hogs eat it with great 

 relish, and the horses have no other 

 food for six months of the year. An- 

 other plant, the AzoreUa celago, grows 



