LIFE IN THE ARCTIC AND ANTARCTIC REGIONS 469 



and quite well able to take care of themselves, would 

 gain little from inconspicuousness. Indeed, it is doubt- 

 less an advantage, if an animal chances to get lost, 

 that it can easily see and be seen by its fellows. 



5. In Siberia and Alaska there is a profusion of Arctic in- 

 insect life in the summer, especially of mosquitoes, flowers* 

 All travelers in these regions agree in describing the 

 clouds of mosquitoes, which make it necessary to wear 



a veil, and render life almost unendurable at times. 

 Wallace points out that no less than 173 species of 

 birds breed in the arctic regions, and that a principal 

 source of food for the young must be these insects, 

 which thus become a very important factor in support- 

 ing a large number of valuable and interesting birds. 

 Also, the arctic tundra is gay in summer with beautiful 

 flowers, and many wild fruits exist, affording further 

 nourishment to the hosts of birds. These things, of 

 course, are found only on the land areas, and only 

 where the summer temperature is high enough to stim- 

 ulate growth. There is nothing of the kind in the south 

 polar lands, which support only very simple organisms, 

 aside from those living in the sea or getting their living 

 out of the sea. 



6. Although the south polar region has no bears, Southern 

 foxes, or musk oxen, there are plenty of seals. There vertebrates 

 are also penguins in great numbers. In the account of 

 Scott's expedition these birds are described at length, 



with illustrations from photographs. In 1911 several 

 members of Scott's party made an extremely difficult 

 and hazardous journey to secure the eggs of the Em- 

 peror Penguin. They were away from the main camp 

 from June 27 to August i, which is the middle of the 

 antarctic winter. They found the birds sitting on 

 their eggs in a temperature 20 to 30 degrees below 



