The Arctic Expedition. 163 
an elongate tapering scale covering the suture between these two 
scales above. Preanal pores distinct, in an angular series; scale gra- 
nular, with series of larger, round, convex granules. Tail cylindrical, 
with rings of larger subangular tubercles, swollen near the vent be- 
neath, and with large tubercles on each side. 
Coleonyx elegans. Gray ; head and nape with concentric black streaks; 
back and tail with irregular black cross-bands, beneath gray ; 
back with numerous series of roundish tubercles, smaller and 
more distant on the head and nape, and more crowded on the 
limbs. 
Inhab. Belize. Collection of the British Museum. 
XVI.—The Arctic Expedition under the command 
of Sir JoHn FRANKLIN. 
We have been favoured with the sight of letters from Mr. H. 
Goodsir, who is attached to this expedition, and hasten to com- 
municate to our readers an outline of the results alr eady obtained. 
The zeal and scientific knowledge of our friend Mr. Goodsir have 
raised high anticipations of the value to natural science of this 
voyage, and these have, if possible, attained a still greater eleva- 
tion by what has been already done. It is most satisfactory to 
learn that the officers of the expedition, and also a considerable 
number of the men, are most active in rendering every assistance 
to him in his researches. They have indeed kept him at work 
almost night and day (if there can be said to be any night in 
these latitudes), examining, drawing, and describing new or 
highly interesting animals. 
We will now proceed to give a short account of the voyage, as 
learned from Mr. Goodsir’s letters, which are dated from “ Disco 
in Baffin’s Bay, July 7, 1845.” 
The earlier part of the voyage was rather tedious, owing to ad- 
verse and stormy winds, so that the ships were driven far to the 
north-east, near enough on June 11th to have seen the moun- 
tains of Iceland, had the state of the atmosphere allowed. On 
the 22nd they were off Cape Farewell, the southern point of 
Greenland. Up to this date there were only two days upon 
which he could make any observations, but the results of these 
are extremely interesting. On the 10th of June, in lat. 61° 47’, 
long. 14° 14/, numerous specimens of a species of Briareus were 
obtained, furnishing an important addition to our knowledge of 
these animals. The presence of “ cilia frmging the bifurcated 
portions of the lateral extremities of its body,” decides the posi- 
tion of the genus in nature, and proves that Quoy and Gaimard’s 
idea of its being molluscous is not correct. Its intestinal canal 
consists of a straight tube with but one oval opening. The re- 
N 
