KNOWLEDGE. 



[January 1, 1897. 



and by the middle of February, a fortnight before the 

 reappearance of the sun, to go out shooting. It must be 

 added that the moon shines very brightly in the clear air 

 of the North, but, unfortunately, from November 19th till 

 New Year's Day there is no moon. For more than 

 forty days, therefore, there is nothing but starlight and a 

 glimmer of sunlight at noon. 



Among the living things that'inhabit the Polar regions 

 are not a few plants. Plants there must be if there is to 

 be animal life, for animals cannot live on inorganic food. 

 It is only that which gives plants their green colour, the 

 chlorophyll, that can by a chemical process convert the 

 radiant energy of sunlight into potential energy. And 

 thus animals depend for their existence, directly or 

 indirectly, on vegetables. Among the plants that thrive in 

 these regions of great cold are a small saxifrage (Sarifraga 

 oppnsitifdlia) — a low-growing plant with a handsome purple 

 flower — dwarf willows a few inches high, dwarf birches, and 

 the lichen called reindeer moss. These are, perhaps, the 

 most important food plants, but there are many others 

 that sometimes make a patch of ground gay in summer, 

 such as the dwarf wallflower {Cheirantlms pygnuvus) and 

 the yellow poppy. 



Dependent for life directly upon vegetables are the hares, 

 the lemming, the musk ox, the reindeer. Those that prey 

 upon these vegetable feeders are the ermine, the Arctic fox, 

 and the wolf. There are, besides these, some that depend 

 on the sea for their food — the seal, a fish-eater ; the Polar 

 bear, that lives on seals, and in default of seals on vegetable 

 food ; and the walrus, whose food consists of molluscs, etc. 

 The lemming is a small rodent, its length about five 

 inches, its ordinary colour a yellowish brown ; but during 

 the Arctic winter, Colonel Feilden found that this turned 

 to a greyish white. Its food is grass, Saxifnuia oppositi- 

 folia, reindeer moss, and so forth. It makes galleries in 

 the snow, and, apparently, the plants that it finds as it 

 burrows are suflicient food for it. The Arctic hare in the 

 extreme North is — at any rate, in many cases^white, not 

 only in winter but the whole year round. It, too, feeds on 

 the minute saxifrage mentioned above. 



The musk ox has long dark-brown hair, with a fine 

 yellow far beneath. It is about the size of an ox of the 

 Scotch breed, but in appearance is more like a long-haired 

 sheep. Its teeth, too, resemble those of the sheep. 

 Like sheep, too, the musk oxen form square to 

 defend themselves when molested by dogs or hunters. 

 Their chief food is the dwarf willow, and on this diet they 

 manage to accumulate an enormous amount of fat in 

 summer. In winter this becomes reduced, as we might 

 expect. Besides man and the climate they have only one 

 enemy, the wolf. They are found as far north as lat. 88°, 

 and as far south as lat. 00°. The reindeer is familiar to 

 everyone. It browses on the dwarf birch, on bilberry and 

 crowberry bushes ; in winter time on reindeer moss, in 

 autumn on seaweed. Brehm maintains that under stress 

 of circumstances it will eat lemmings — not an impossi- 

 bility, certainly, as red deer in Scotland have in hard 

 winters been known to eat rabbits. 



We come now to the carnivores. The Arctic fox preys 

 upon lemmings all the year round, and in the summer on 

 birds. But sometimes he is found on islands where 

 lemmings and all the smaller mammals are wanting. 

 What, then, is there for him to live upon? He picks up 

 dead seals, fish, molluscs, and crustaceans, and hopes for the 

 return of the bu-ds with the spring-time. And some 

 authorities believe that he stores food for the winter. 



* See the A ppendix to Mr. Trevor Battyc's book, " Icebound in 

 Kolguer." 



The ermine is only a stoat whose coat has turned white 

 with the coming of the snowtime. The process of change 

 is this : the hairs that come at the time of the trans- 

 formation are white, those already grown become blanched. 

 And it has been found that cold :ilone will not produce 

 the change, but that it comes with the snow, thus showing 

 that natural selection has given to the northern stoat this 

 wonderful means of protection. The Arctic hare, the 

 Arctic fox, and to some extent the lemming in Arctic 

 regions, change their dress to match the snow. 



Of all these Arctic animals none hibernate, with the 

 possible exception of the Polar bear. The marmot, it is 

 true, sleeps through the winter ; but though it is found 

 well within the Arctic Cirnle in Eussia, yet it is not one of 

 those that range very near the Pole. 



I have said little about the birds that in summer fly to 

 the far North, and find countless bilberries and crowberries 

 that have been preserved for them by the cold of the Arctic 

 winter. Their habits are generally known. But this 

 cannot be said of the fish that Baron Nordenskiold found 

 in early spring in a lagoon in which the water had been 

 frozen solid all the winter, and which had no outlet to the 

 sea. How had they worn through the Arctic winter ? 

 At Gape Hayes, lat. 76°, where the average temperature 

 is four degrees below zero, and where snow falls in the 

 height of summer. Colonel Feilden found a butterfly. In 

 this icy climate how had it developed to the imago state ? 



There are problems about life in Arctic regions that are 

 far from being settled yet. And much that we do know is 

 full of wonder. 



Much information on this subject is to be found in various papers 

 bv Colonel U. W. Feilden, wlio has clearly set forth all the problems 

 involved and the facts which helji to solve them. See especially the 

 ZoologUt for 1877, 1878, 1879, and the "Transactions of the Norfolk 

 and Norwich Natur.alists' Society, 1886." 



THE FACE OF THE SKY FOR JANUARY. 



By Herbert Sadler, F.E.A.S. 



SUNSPOTS have not been very evident of late. 

 Conveniently observable minima of Algol occur 

 at 2h. 40m. a.m. on the 13th, at llh. 29m. p.m. on 

 the 15th, at 8h. 18m. p.m. on the 18th, and at 

 5h. 7m. P.M. on the 21st. 

 Mercury is practically invisible during the month in 

 these latitudes. He is in inferior conjunction with the 

 Sun on the 22nd. 



Venus is an evening star, and is now getting into a 

 better position for observation, and becoming a very fine 

 object in the western sky after sunset. On the 1st she 

 sets at 7h. 45m. p.m., or about three and three-quarter 

 hours after the Sun, with a southern declination (at noon) 

 of 15° 19', and an apparent diameter of 16i", yV^hs of the 

 disc being illuminated. On the 15th she sets at 3h. 20m. 

 P.M., with a southern declination of 8° 52', and an apparent 

 diameter of 18", VV'u''^^ °^ ^^^ ^^^'^ being illuminated. On 

 the 31st she sets at 9h. 10m. p.m., or about four and a 

 half hours after the Sun, with a southern declinatiou of 

 0° 40', and an apparent diameter of 20^", |';,ths of the 

 disc being illuminated. During the month she describes 

 a direct path through Aquarius into Pisces. 



Mars is an evening star, and is well situated foi 

 observation. On the 1st he sets at 6h. 33m. a.m., and 

 souths at Oh. 57m. p.m., with a northern declination of 

 25° 22', and an apparent diameter of 15-0 ', the phasis on 

 the following limb amounting to J^". On the 11th he sets 

 at 5h. 45m. a m., with a northern declination of 25° 12', 

 and an apparent diameter of ISf. On the 21st ho sets at 



