ANTARCTIC TARDIGRABA 108 



Africa, Scotland, and Canada. M. antarcticus is in the South Polar region, and though 

 not yet known in the Arctic, it comes pretty near to it in Sweden, where it has 

 recently beeii found by Carlzon (1). The other six bi-polar species are cosmopolitan, 

 or very widely distributed. 



DISTRIBUTION : LOCAL AND GENERAL,, OF ALL KNOWN 

 ANTARCTIC TARDIGRADA. 



Antarctic 



Sub-Antarctic 



The local distribution within the Antarctic is very remarkable. In the three 

 portions of the Antarctic from which Tardigrada are known the species are all 

 different in each locality, with the single exception of D. alpinum, which occurs in 

 both Victoria Land and the Graham Land region. From the uniformity of the 

 conditions round the Antarctic coast it would be expected that the fauna would 

 be uniformly distributed. It is true that there is a great difference in latitude, 

 amounting to not far short of 1000 miles, between the regions studied in East and in 

 West Antarctica. The climatic conditions do not correspond to this great difference 

 of latitude, though the Graham Land region is somewhat warmer. 



It might be suggested that the Tardigrada have peopled the different districts 

 independently by migration from the nearest lands to the north. A glance at the 

 map will show how improbable this is. Migration across those broad oceans must be 

 excessively difficult for Tardigrada, even considering the few small islands which 

 afford intermediate resting-places. Migration of such animals is involuntary, and 



