I04 LIFE : OUTLINES OF GENERAL BIOLOGY 



were no freshwater ftshes, and that there was no vegetation in the 

 interior of Antarctica except a few lichens and mosses. What a con- 

 trast to the Arctic regions with their foxes and hares, reindeer and 

 lemmings, bears and wolves; and the same contrast holds in regard 

 to land-birds and insects and vegetation. 



In thinking of this striking contrast between the two polar 

 regions we must keep in mind the broad fact that the Antarctic has 

 a more "oceanic climate", that is to say, the seasons are less sharply 

 defined. In the south the winters are less cold, but the summers are 

 less warm. It is the abundance of sunshine in the short northern 

 summer that saves the Arctic from the lifelessness of Antarctica. 

 In one faunistic feature, however, the Arctic and the Antarctic 

 regions agree, and that is the abundance of life in the sea. Thus the 

 population of small crustaceans and other ojx^n-sea organisms is 

 far denser than in tropical waters. This somewhat surprising fact 

 finds more than one explanation. The prevalent cold slows the pace 

 of life, putting a brake on metabolism, so that there are more 

 generations living at the same time; in cold waters there are fewer 

 cx:eanic Bacteria than in the Tropics, and that may mean a more 

 economical utilisation of the nitrogenous comjKmnds in the water, 

 especially by the "floating meadows" of green Algie; and thirdly, 

 the cold polar waters are more abundantly oxygenated than those 

 at a higher temperature, and oxygenation favours life. 



Let us now single out a few of the characteristic Antarctic animals. 

 On a frozen continent, the size of Europe and Australia, there is 

 not a single mammal, for there is nothing to eat; but in the seas 

 there are, or recently were, abundant whales and seals. The whales 

 are represented by finners, humpbacks, threshers, blackfish, and the 

 Southern Right whale, a true BaLxna. A fine list, but unless more 

 effective international protection is .soon secured, the years are 

 numbered for all these southern cetaceans; and then the whaling 

 companies will wind up ingloriously. 



The Antarctic seals include some very fine types, the Weddell 

 seal, the Ross seal, the crab-eating white seal, and the sea-leopard. 

 Bruce speaks of the swiftness and litheness of the last sjx'cies, which 

 makes a habit of catching penguins in the sea. Very remarkable, but 

 only occasionally penetrating the pack-ice, is the sea-elephant, one 

 of the most extraordinary of mammals. The male may be 20 feet 

 long, and he can dilate his nose into an upstanding proboscis that 

 rises to a height of about a foot ! The females and yount; males bellow 

 like bulls, and the full-grown males have a roar like the "noise made 

 by a man when gargling"! At the breeding season, when their nose 

 stands up with rage, the males fight furiously with heavy-weights 

 of their own size; but we are told that the elephant seal is at heart 

 inoffensive and of mild disposition. There is something just a little 

 comical about these giants, for when they drag themselves with 



