ANTARCTIC INFUSORIA 59 



On the second voyage, the Journal records, December 21, 

 1841 : *Much of this ice is discoloured, as was the case last 

 year and from the same cause. When melted it gives out a 

 strong animal, smell.' And again, off Louis Philippe Land, 

 December 28, 1842 — a point repeated in the letter to his 

 father of March 7, 1843, describing the voyage : 



All day the washed pieces of pack ice have been stained 

 with yellow, caused doubtless by the infusoriae in the 

 stomachs of the Salpae, which are washed up against the 

 ice and leave this stain (the same as last year). When the 

 wind was Hght and the fog thick in the morning, I recognised 

 the animal smell very strong from the pack, precisely similar 

 to that of brash ice, with the Salpoid remains, omitted last 

 year by me, in the cabin. 



Letters to Ross after their return (September 1 and 4, 

 1844) speak of two pamphlets on Antarctic Infusoria received 

 from Ehrenberg — * in hard German,' one containing descrip- 

 tions, the other * drawings of Asterom'phalos Humholdtii, 

 Cuvieriij Bossii, Darwinii, and Hooherii. I think, Sir, that 

 we are in good com^pany, though I can give you no more idea 

 of what the species are like further than that the magnified 

 figures resemble the objects at the far end of a kaleidoscope.' 



Before this was sent on to Ross, Hooker * commenced trying, 

 with the German dictionary, to speU out [the] descriptions of 

 our Infusoria.' 



I find Ehrenberg has described 70 new species from the 

 contents of two pill-boxes and three small bottles, and has 

 not yet examined the whole of what I had. As far as I can 

 make out they seem to throw extraordinary hght on the 

 subject, and to have been the most important collections 

 ever brought to this country. The amount of species in 

 what you have must be enormous, as my specimens were 

 mere scraps in pill-boxes from the dredge, and a portion of 

 a large bottle you have of condensed hrown Ice. 



The other packets I sent were of dirt from the roots 

 of Cockburn and other Island mosses, which also seem to 

 contain animals. . . . Ehrenberg finds animalculae in all 

 soundings, and I feel quite convinced that those you have 



