550 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



in great clusters, sometimes Ijeing three 

 feet in height. This plant is dying out, 

 as the rabbits make their burrows 

 amongst these bunches and destroy the 

 roots. Similarly the well-known Ker- 

 guelen cabbage is steadily disap])ear- 

 ing, except on the islands and high 

 land unoccupied by the rabbits. Moles 

 and field mice abound. Among the 

 numerous insects are wingless flies, 

 spiders, ants, etc." It thus appears 

 that this most fertile and favorable 

 subantarctic land presents extremely 

 limited life forms. 



Let us turn to south polar lands 

 about four hundred miles nearer to the 

 continent of Antarctica. 



The best known of these islands from 

 the stand])oint of life is perhaps South 

 Georgia. This land is of especial inter- 

 est to the American Museum, which ob- 

 tained therefrom its important Antarc- 

 tic collections through tlie American 

 Museum Ex))edition of 101-3. With this 

 expedition a young hul well-known 

 American naturalist, Mr. H. ('. Murphy, 

 of the Brooklyn IMuseum, passed four 

 months in researches on this island, and 

 from him certain data of much interest 

 have been obtained. Indigenous animals 

 are wanting, but nuin has introduced 

 horses, rats, and reindeer, all of which 

 thrive in a wild state. The Crozets, 

 Kerguelen Land, and other snow-cov- 

 ered austral islands have no land birds 

 of any kind, but in South Georgia is to 

 be found a land species peculiar to the 

 island, a titlark (Anthus antarcticus) . 



The severe climatic conditions closely 

 restrict vegetation. In striking con- 

 trast with Labrador, where, in a lati- 

 tude corresponding with South Georgia, 

 there are great forests, the austral is- 

 land has not even a single shrub. Cryp- 

 togams abound to the number of per- 

 haps two hundred species, but the vas- 

 cular plants scarcely reach a score, and 



but fifteen flowering species are known. 

 The most attractive plant to the eye is 

 that which American whalers in olden 

 days made familiar to the world by 

 using it for beverage purposes, calling 

 it "Kerguelen tea" from the island 

 where it was first used. It is a rosa- 

 ceous plant (Acoena adscendens), with 

 round, red flowering heads, and its 

 hardiness is evident from its froqiiently 

 pushing itself up to the air and to the 

 sunlight through beds of snow. 



A vigorous tall tussock grass (Poa 

 flahelJata) is extremely abundant, es- 

 pecially near the sea, much to the ad- 

 vantage of the wild horses of the island. 

 An earthworm, a mite, and rock spiders 

 are found. Among the insects are to 

 be named fleas, beetles, flies. May flies, 

 and swarms of springtails. The fresh- 

 water lakes are devoid of fish. Consid- 

 ering the climate, .it is remarkable that 

 so much terrestrial life exists. 



A suggestive paragraph in Mr. Mur- 

 ])liy"s narrative happily illustrates the 

 environment. He says: "All summer 

 long hundred-ton ice blocks fell thun- 

 deringly from a l)eautiful valley glacier 

 near by." 



South Georgia has a typical Antarc- 

 tic climate. The average temperature 

 for the year is but slightly above the 

 freezing point. On January (our July) 

 ], 1913, half an inch of ice formed on 

 all the fresh-water ponds. Gales are 

 frequent and violent, the winds exceed- 

 ing at times one hundred miles an hour 

 and averaging nearly forty miles an 

 hour for an entire month. Snow falls 

 in every month of the year, and on five 

 days out of six there is either snow, 

 sleet, or cold rain. What an unfavor- 

 able contrast with Arctic conditions, 

 anywhere and everywhere! 



Possibly the north polar phenomena 

 may be discussed in a later number of 

 the Journal. 



