Animal Life in Nova Zembla. 14? 



to be wanting. In other regions the leaves of tall plants and 

 trees usually make even a gentle breeze perceptible tous^but 

 a slight wind does not ruffle these lowly plants of the high 

 north ; one might take them to be painted. A very few in- 

 sects only are busy seeking to satisfy their little wants upon 

 them. Of the numerous family of beetles only one individual 

 has been found, a Chrysomela, which is perhaps a new species. 

 On sunny days and in warm spots for instance, about the 

 small projecting points of rock, a humble-bee is seen flying 

 about, but it hardly hums, as is the case with us in moist 

 weather. Flies and gnats are rather more numerous; but 

 even these are so rare, so peaceful and languid, that in order 

 to see them they must be sought for. I do not recollect ha- 

 ving heard that any one of us had been bitten by a gnat, and 

 one may truly long for the bite of a Lapland gnat, merely for 

 the sake of perceiving life in nature. The most manifest proof 

 of the rarity of insects in this country appears from the fol- 

 lowing circumstance, that we neither found the least trace of 

 insect larvae in a dead Walrus which had lain above fourteen 

 days on the sea shore, nor in the bones of animals which had 

 been killed in former years, even though they were not with- 

 out dried flesh on some parts. The common saying in our 

 funeral service, that man becomes a prey to worms, is not 

 true with respect to the extreme north, and whoever dreads 

 this lot has only to be buried in Nova Zembla or Spitzbergen, 

 where even the universal decomposing forces of nature will 

 act upon him but very slowly *. 



The abundance or scarcity of insects is, next to the vege- 

 table kingdom, the surest measure for the climate of a country. 

 Both need for tlieir subsistence a certain quantity and a cer- 

 tain duration of warmth. This never fails in the torrid zone, 

 but as we approach the north it does so in an increasing 

 degree. Insects are however less easily transplanted than 

 plants. That we know of no true insects from Spitzbergen 

 may well be ascribed to this cause. M. Lehmann neverthe- 

 less observed ten species in Nova Zembla, and of these seven 

 which are not parasitic. Fabricius described many more spe- 



* At some depth the bodies remain frozen, but even above the earth they 

 decay remarkably slowly. 



M 2 



