THE ANTARCTIC REGIONS. 273 



borders of the Antarctic regions. The general instruc- 

 tions to this effect are contained in the following 

 passage from the Keport of the Circumnavigation Com- 

 mittee of the Royal Society: 'It is recommended .... 

 to pass .... across the South Atlantic to the Cape of 

 Grood Hope ; thence by the Marian Islands, the Crozets, 

 and Kerguelen Land, to Australia and New Zealand, 

 going southwards, en route, opposite the centre of the 

 Indian Ocean, as near as may be with convenience and 

 safety to the southern ice-barrier. . . . This route will 

 give an opportunity of examining .... the specially 

 interesting fauna of the Antarctic seas. Special attention 

 should be paid to the botany and zoology of the Marian 

 Islands, the Crozets, Kerguelen Land, and new groups- 

 of islands which may possibly be met with in the 

 region to the south-east of the Cape of Good Hope. 

 Probably investigations in these latitudes may be 

 difficult : it must be remembered, however, that the 

 marine fauna of these regions is nearly unknown ; 

 that it must bear an interesting relation to the fauna 

 of high northern latitudes ; that the region is inac- 

 cessible, except under such circumstances as the present ; 

 and that every addition to our knowledge of it will be 

 of value.' We find, also, among the suggested physical 

 observations, the remark that ' it is in the Southern 

 Ocean that the study of ocean temperatures, at different 

 depths, is expected to afford the most important results, 

 and it should there be systematically prosecuted. The 

 great ice-barrier should be approached as nearly as 

 may be deemed suitable, in a meridian nearly corres- 



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