PART II 



MICROSCOPIC LIFE AT CAPE HO YDS 



BY JAMES MURRAY 



THE finding of an abundant microscopic fauna and flora at Cape Royds came somewhat 

 as a surprise. It is true that the most northerly lands hitherto carefully examined 

 (Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land, in about latitude 80 0' N.) have a rich microscopic 

 fauna, but in these lands the higher summer temperature allows of a flora of the 

 higher plants, and a luxuriant growth of mosses, among which so many microscopic 

 animals have their haunts. In Grant Land at an equally high latitude there has 

 recently been found a rich moss flora, which would undoubtedly be found to harbour 

 plenty of animal life, though this has not yet been reported. 



Cape Royds, though at a much lower latitude (77 30' S.) and close by the open 

 sea, has a much lower summer temperature. The mean temperature of a summer day 

 rarely rises above freezing-point, and there is no vegetation higher than mosses. As 

 contrasted with the northern lands the moss fauna is a very poor one. We found only 

 four species, and from the whole of Victoria Land there are but eight species known. 

 At Cape Royds they are very scarce, and are stunted and sickly in growth. The 

 micro-fauna which they support is very meagre, a few water-bears and rotifers, one 

 rhizopod, and little else. In some tufts of moss the individual animals were 

 numerous ; in others no life could be detected. 



The kinds of animals which are usually to be found among mosses have at Cape 

 Royds a shelter of another sort, which, judging from their numbers, appears to suit 

 them better. This is furnished by the foliaceous vegetation which grows so 

 abundantly in the lakes and ponds. On the surface and between the layers of this 

 plant they abound both summer and winter. In summer, when the ponds are 

 melted, they enjoy for some weeks a warm climate, the temperature rising as high as 

 60 F. in some ponds. There they are sheltered from the air, which would freeze 

 them every day if they lived among the mosses. In winter again they are frozen in 

 the ice for many months, in some of the deeper lakes for many years. While the 

 mosses appear to be dwarfed by the cold, the microscopic animals are not at all 

 troubled by the rigours of the climate. When the cold comes they curl up and go to 

 sleep, it may be for years, and when the thaw comes they go merrily on as though 

 nothing had happened. Indeed, since the cold does not harm them, the ice 



BEIT. ANTAECT. EXPED. 1907-9. VOL. I. PAET 2, ISSUED APEIL 1910 



