14 JAMES MURRAY 



While she remained for some days moored to the fast ice in the middle of the Sound, 

 a number of hauls were made with the tow-net used vertically. The net was let 

 down to a depth of 100 or 200 fathoms and hauled steadily to the surface. These 

 hauls brought in a good many things, including two kinds of Pteropods, a small 

 hyaline species, and a pretty red one about an inch in length. 



No further collecting could be attempted till we were settled down on shore at 

 Cape Royds and the ship had gone away. There was at this time open water all 

 round, but the coast was too rugged to allow of any good tow-netting by throwing in 

 the nets, and, moreover, we were too busy in other ways. When the ice formed for 

 the winter it was always unsafe to go to the edge which bordered the open sea. 

 There were no lanes where the net could be used. The only feasible method was to 

 attach the net to the dredging-line and pull it from one of the holes to the other, 

 under the ice. When this was attempted the net came up full of sludge, which 

 probably came in early in the haul and so prevented much water passing through. 

 The sludge took a long time to thaw, and when it was reduced to water there was 

 almost nothing in it. In one such haul we got two phosphorescent Copepods, one 

 Diatom, and one Peridinium. 



The method of taking vertical hauls at the dredging-holes might have been 

 practised had the depth been sufficient, but at our habitual dredging-ground the 

 depth was only from seven to eighteen fathoms. 



Early in July a crack opened to the west of the Cape. At a distance of a quarter 

 of a mile from shore the depth was 100 fathoms. Our first concern was to dredge on 

 this fresh ground, and as the temperature was very low fresh ice filled the crack 

 before there was time to use the tow-net. 



After the Nimrod returned on her second trip south, when the ice had broken 

 up to beyond Glacier Tongue (twelve miles south of Cape Royds), we noticed a great 

 many brown bodies, from one to six inches in length, floating in the sea. While the 

 ship was moored to the Glacier Tongue some members of the ship's crew fished up a 

 few of them in a tow-net. Some of them, at least, were Ctenophores. The ship's 

 company also picked up a large medusa (of sorts), but as there were no conveniences 

 available for preserving it, it was allowed to freeze in a jar of sea-water, and by the 

 time it could be put in spirit it was in such a condition as to be unrecognisable. 

 Occasionally shoals of Shizopods (mistaken by the sailors for fish fry) came alongside 

 the ship. 



The Fish-trap. At the end of August, Day made a fish-trap, at Priestley's 

 instigation, from Joyce's design, and with the object not so much of adding to 

 scientific knowledge as replenishing the larder. It was constructed of copper wire, 

 and was originally of the shape of a water-melon, with a small opening at each of the 

 poles. From the openings several wires projected into the inside, converging inwards, 

 so that the fish could easily push them aside to get in, but could not get out again. 

 The trap was baited and put down in about twenty-five fathoms. After an hour or 



