igo2] ICE-FLOWERS 199 



with prismatic colours where the sunrays light on their delicate 

 petals. It was a phenomenon to be expected in the newly 

 frozen sea, but it is curious that they should come to their 

 greatest perfection on this particular day. The ice is about 

 five inches thick and free from snow; consequently the ice- 

 flowers stand up clear-cut and perfect in form. In some places 

 they occur thickly, with broad, delicate, feathery leaves; in 

 others the dark, clear ice surface is visible with only an oc- 

 casional plant on it; in others, again, the plants assume a 

 spiky appearance, being formed of innumerable small spicules. 

 The more nearly one examines these beautiful formations, the 

 more wonderful they appear, as it is only by close inspection 

 that the mathematical precision of the delicate tracery can be 

 observed. It is now established that on the freezing of salt 

 water much of the brine is mechanically excluded. Sea-ice is 

 much less salt than the sea itself, and what salt remains is sup- 

 posed only to be entangled in the frozen water. The amount 

 of salt excluded seems to depend on the rate at which the ice 

 is formed, and whilst some is excluded below the ice-surface, 

 some is also pushed out above, and it is this that forms the ice- 

 flowers. The subject is very fascinating, and we have already 

 started to measure the salinity of ice taken from different 

 depths and formed under various conditions : the ice-flowers 

 themselves do not seem to constitute a saturated solution of 

 brine, and why they should differ in form in various places 

 seems beyond explanation. 



1 To-day we saw a group of penguins far over the ice, and 

 after church Hodgson, Shackleton, and I walked out towards 

 them. They turned out to be Emperors, and were all standing 

 about very contentedly near a crack much too narrow to allow 

 them to get through. It is difficult to see how these birds can 

 now get north, and it looks as though they winter more or less 

 in these regions, probably close to spots where the ice is certain 

 to open from the effect of tide or wind. If so, this would 

 throw a new and interesting light on their habits, and one can 

 only hope that ihey will give us the pleasure of their company 

 in our immediate vicinity. 1 



