556 



NATURE 



[Oct, 28, 1875 



seems to be its normal state of distension, the diameter of 

 the hydrocaulus is about half an inch. Its structure you 

 can make out for yourself. The proximal ends of several 

 of them were coated with mud when they came up ; the 

 longitudinal striae were very evident in the soft tissue ; 

 fluid gravitated down the centre of the hydrocaulus, and 

 collected in a bladder-like expansion at the base. The 

 base of this stem was of a darker colour than the rest — a 

 dull rose— in most of them (not in the one figured by 

 Wild). As I did not mean to describe the creature I did 

 not look out for processes or fibrillas at the proximal ex- 

 tremity ; you may find them in the spirit specimens. The 

 total length of the hydranth when moderately extended 

 was \\ inches. 



"The proximal range of tentacles number about a hun- 

 dred, and these are about four inches long — they are almost 

 transparent in life — of a pale pink colour in most speci- 

 mens. The sporosacs are in close tufts of a maroon colour 

 just at the base of the proximal tentacles. The specimen 

 I looked at was a male, but the tissues were so soft — 

 almost slimy — that I did not like to tease it too much. 

 The walls of the body-cavity were yellowish, and seemed 

 to contain some vertical rolls of glandular matter, and 

 the hypostome terminates in a fringe of about forty-eight 

 or fifty extensile tentacles round the mouth. So much for 

 our gigantic Corymorphoid ! These are the only two 

 occasions on which we got it, or anything like it. I 

 should have liked to get a haul or two in Behring's Sea, 

 for there doubtless we should have had it in shallow 

 water. I can only tell you one thing more about it — its 

 associates. On the 17th of June, 1875, in 1,875 fathoms, 

 itwas associated with many fishes (Ophidoids, Macrurids, 

 Scopellids — all theusual deep-sea lot), several Gasteropods, 

 many Crustaceans (Dorippe, Galatea, Caridids, &c., and 

 a fine Scalpellum), a few Annelids, many Echinoderms 

 (Brisinga, Phormosoma, Ophiurids, two very fine Holothu- 

 rids of a new group), species of Isis, Primnoa, Polythoa, 

 and Actinia. On the 5th of July, in 2,900 fathoms, there 

 were some worms (Aphroditacean), an Urchin allied to 

 Diadema, two Holothurije, and one or two sponges ; but 

 the trawl-net was torn by the weight of the manganese 

 nodules, so we had scarcely a fair sample of the fauna. 

 In the bottle with the tube you will find among the horse- 

 hair one or two pieces of Heliopora certdea from 

 Moseley. He sends at the same time a paper on it to the 

 Royal." 



That the enormous depths from which this colossal 

 Hydroid has been brought up should favour the develop- 

 ment of gigantic representatives of the diminutive forms 

 of shallower zones, and that in the tenants of these sunless 

 regions of the sea we should find colour not less vivid than 

 that of their light-loving relatives, are facts full of sig- 

 nificance. 



It is also worth noticing that the sexual zooids of the 

 great Hydroid are to all appearance simple sporosacs, 

 instead of the medusiform zooids which are so frequent 

 in the Gymnoblastic Hydroids of our littoral regions. 

 Indeed, among the many Hydroids which I have examined 

 from deep water, I have never found one which could be 

 referred with probability to a form characterised by the 

 production of medusiform zooids. It would seem that 

 these zooids — delicate and active organisms which are 

 among the most abundant captives of the towing-net in 

 the surface-zone of the sea — are unable to endure, either 

 before liberation from their parent Hydroid, or for a 

 period however short in their free state, the darkness and 

 pressure and other conditions to which the dwellers in 

 the deep sea are exposed. George J. Allman 



NORDENSKJOLUS ARCTIC EXPEDITION 



A LETTER from Prof. Nordenskjold to Mr. Oscar 



"'"^ Dickson, of Gothenburg, appears in the Goieborgs 



Handels Tidning of the 14th inst. It is dated " On 



board the Proven, at anchor at the mouth of the Jenesej,' 

 i6th August, 1875." The following extracts may be of 

 interest to our readers : — 



" We are now employed as busily as possible in equip- 

 ping the boat in which I, accompanied by Dr. Stuxberg, 

 docent Lundstrom and three men, intend to sail up the 

 Jenesej, with the view of returning to Europe across 

 Siberia, while the other part of the expedition returns to 

 Norway by sea, on board the Proven. 



" After the Proven, on the 8th of June, was towed free 

 of cost out of Tromso by a little steamer of the same 

 name, we were compelled to lie at anchor in the sound 

 between Carlso and Reno for five days, on account of a 

 head wind. Finally, on the 14th, we could again weigh 

 anchor and get to sea through Fuglo Sound. We there- 

 upon set our course past North Cape, which we passed 

 on the 17th, to the southern part of Novaya Zemlya. 



" During spring and the early part of summer the west 

 coast of this double island is, for some distance from 

 the land, surrounded by a compact ice girdle, impassable 

 at most places, which disappears later in the season, and 

 in which, according to the experience of the fishermen, 

 there are formed, generally at an early period, two sounds 

 which are covered only with thin passable drift-ice, and 

 by which the ice-free belt of water along the coast is con- 

 nected with the ice-free ocean westwards. One of these 

 open channels is usually situated off Matotschkin Scharr, 

 and its formation is caused by the strong currents which 

 prevail in that sound ; the other is to be found about the 

 latitude of Severo Gusinnoi Mys, or North Goose Cape. 

 The latter was chosen by me for the Proven, and was 

 passed without any special difficulty on the 22nd of June. 

 The expedition thus, in seven days from its departure 

 from Carlso, cast anchor for the first time at Novaya 

 Zemlya, in a little ill-protected bay immediately north of 

 North Goose Cape. 



" During the voyage there were set on foot, when the 

 state of the weather permitted, frequent soundings and 

 dredgings, examinations of animal and diatom life in the 

 surface of the sea, determinations of the temperature at 

 different depths, &c. Our operations were generally very 

 successful, and showed that in this sea we may reckon on 

 reaping rich harvests in natural history. We also made 

 repeated trials at different depths of a new instrument 

 for bringing up specimens of the bottom, constructed for 

 the expedition by Dr. Wiberg, which showed itself very 

 well adapted for the purpose, and easily managed." 



After visiting and examining various parts of the coast 

 for many days, the Proven was directed to the Sea of 

 Kara, and on the 26th July the anchor was let go off 

 Cape Grebeni, on Waigats Island. So violent a storm 

 was raging, however, that a boat could not be sent out 

 till the 30th July to land on Waigats Island. " A rich 

 collection was here made of Upper Silurian fossils, 

 strongly resembling those from Gotland, and therefore 

 of special interest for Swedish geologists. Here we for 

 the first time encountered Samoyedes, who when they 

 sighted the vessel drove down to the shore in peculiar 

 high sledges adapted for travelling in both summer and 

 winter, and drawn by three or four reindeer. They imme- 

 diately gave us to understand that they wished to come 

 on board, whither they also accompanied us in our boat, 

 and where they were soon afterwards well entertained 

 by us. 



" During our stay on the west coast of Novaya Zemlya 

 we of course instituted numerous investigations regarding 

 the geology, animal and vegetable life, &c., of the regions 

 visited by us, and the number of the places on the coast 

 where we land^id rendered it possible for the scientific 

 staff of the expedition to collect materials for ascertaining 

 the natural relations of these regions, which are certainly 

 far more extensive than have been brought home by any 

 of our predecessors." At last on August 2 the sound was 

 successfully passed, and on the Proven reaching the Sea 



