NATURE 



8i 



THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 1875 



THE ARCTIC MANUAL 

 .•luiiual of the Natural History, Geology, and Physics of 

 Greenland and the Neighbojcrim; Keqions. By T. 

 Rupert Jones, F.R.S., and W. G. Adams, M.A., F.R.S. 

 Edited by Prof. T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S., under the 

 direction of the Arctic Committee of the Royal Society. 

 (PubUshed by Authority of the Lords Commissioners 

 of the Admiralty, 1875.) 



THE Arctic explorers, to whom we must all give a 

 hearty God-speed now they have started on their 

 journey, besides being suppHed with " Instructions" as to 

 the points on which information is most required, and as to 

 the manner in which they may best obtain it, have had 

 compiled for them a most comprehensive " Manual " of 

 what has already been done with regard to the natural 

 history and physics of the northern regions. The tin\e 

 devoted to this work has been short, but the compilers 

 have made the most of it, and their names are guai^antees 

 that the information is as complete as possible. 



The book consists of a series of reprints of the latest 

 and most trustworthy papers that have been written 

 on the various subjects included. No other form of 

 " Manual " would have been half so useful, even if there 

 had been time to compile it. The limited area within 

 which the exploration is to be conducted has made it 

 possible to include all these in one handy volume. What 

 would not an ordinary naturalist give to have all the pre- 

 vious work that had been done upon the district he was 

 visiting collected together for him, instead of his having 

 to search for it over scattered volumes .' and how much 

 more valuable it would be if it were revised up to the 

 latest date by the authors themselves. This is what has 

 been done for the Arctic naturalists, who will be cut off 

 lor years from all books but those they take with them, 

 and to whom this work will therefore be of inestimable 

 value. Of course we are not to understand that all that 

 has been written on the natural history and physics of 

 the Arctic regions is here reproduced ; that would have 

 been impossible : but in the first part complete catalogues 

 are given, without the descriptions of the genera or species 

 that have been named from Arctic specimens ; and the 

 second part, to which less time has been allowed, and 

 which is less complete, contains only the most important 

 portions of the papers or works from which extracts have 

 been made. 



It is not the Arctic voyagers, however, who alone will 

 benefit by this Manual. Those who will follow them in 

 thought in their perilous but splendid undertaking will 

 find their interest increased, if this be possible, by the 

 many questions for solution which its perusal will raise in 

 their minds, and they will the more easily compare what 

 was known before the expedition with that which we hope 

 will be known after its return. 



We proceed to give our readers some idea of the con- 

 tents of this " Manual." Although the list of papers is 

 no doubt scanty compared with what might be formed of 

 more temperate climes, many no doubt will be astonished 

 that so much has been done in the natural history of 

 these inhospitable regions, far more in proportion than 

 the observations of physical data. 



The first part, devoted to Biology and Geology, is 

 Vol, XII. — No. 292 



divided geographically into three sections ; the first, on 

 West Greenland, including Davis' Strait, Baffin's Bay, 

 Smith's Sound, and Kennedy Channel ; the second, the 

 Parry Islands and East Arctic America ; and the third, 

 East Greenland, Spitzbergen, Franz-Joseph Land, &c. 

 All these between them have iii illustrative papers, many 

 being double ones. They, are arranged in each section 

 zoologically, the first paper being by Dr. Robert Brown, 

 on the Mammals of Greenland, of which there appear to 

 be thirty-one now known, exclusive of introductions by 

 the colonists ; all but seven of which inhabit the sea. 

 This paper is followed by two others by the same 

 author, published about the same time (i860), con- 

 taining his accounts of the species and habits of the 

 Whales, Seals, and Walrus. Many such accounts have 

 been published ; they are always read with interest, and 

 we have no doubt much further light will be thrown by 

 the expedition on these animals, some of which are as 

 yet only known by their skulls sent home to museums. 

 There are six species of Greenland Seals, all sufficiently 

 distinct to be placed in different genera, though one is 

 often confounded with another. The chief are the Com- 

 mon Seal {Calloccphalus vitulinus), the Saddleback, the 

 male and female of which are of different colours, the 

 Grey Seal, and the Bladder-nosed Seal, the latter of which 

 was till lately represented in the Zoological Gardens by a 

 living specimen. There is also the Walrus, large numbers 

 of which used to inhabit British waters during the crag 

 period,;.but of which only two have as yet been brought 

 aUve to England, where they survived but a short time. 

 The Cetacea are more numerous, having sixteen repre- 

 sentatives, including the Dolphins and Porpoise. Dr. 

 Brown gives interesting details respecting several of 

 these, of which we need only mention the voracity of 

 the Killer {Orca gladiator), out of whose stomach Dr. 

 Eschricht took thirteen porpoises and fourteen seals, the 

 voracious animal having been choked by the skin of a 

 fifteenth. A case is known in ,which they attacked a 

 white-painted herring-boat in the Western Islands, pro- 

 bably mistaking it for a Beluga or White Whale. 



From the Mammals we come to the Birds, the notes on 

 which are contributed in a separate paper by Prof. Alfred 

 Newton, the list being compiled by him from all available 

 sources. The number bf true denizens reaches sixty- 

 three, of which, however, only forty-seven occur within 

 the Arctic circle, and not more than thirty-six, if so many, 

 may be expected in Smith's Sound. These are printed in 

 a thicker type to draw attention to them, and short notes 

 are given by which they may be distinguished even by those 

 observers who are not professed naturalists. Prof. Newton 

 is very severe on the former expeditions for " so in- 

 gloriously missing their glorious opportunities " in orni- 

 thology, " through the absence of special naturalists ; " 

 but this will not apply to the present one. 



For the catalogues of the Fishes and most of the 

 remaining classes of animals we have to go to Denmark, 

 Drs. Liitken and Morch, of Copenhagen, being the chief 

 authorities on these branches — and they have both 

 revised their lists to the latest date. The former writer 

 has in preparation an " Ichthyology of Greenland," and 

 the list of fishes here given is only provisional till that is 

 completed. The number reaches seventy-eight, the 

 greater number of course being Telcosteans, and many 



