C AUSTRALASIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



Of these Antarctic expeditions, the "Southern Cross" (1898) had its winter 

 quarters off Cape Adare in the Ross Sea; the " Discovery " ( 1901-1904), under Captain 

 R. F. Scott, R.N., was held fast in the ice for two years in McMurdo Bay, South Victoria 

 Land; both these places being to the south of New Zealand. The German South- 

 polar expedition on the " Gauss" (1901-1903) wintered off Kaiser Wilhelm II Land 

 which lies to the south of Kerguelen ; while the two French expeditions on the 

 " Frangais" (1903-1905) and on the " Pourquoi Pas?" (1908-1910) explored the 

 lands and islands to the south of America, wintering off Petermann Island.* 



In the terms of Sir Clements Markham's subdivisions of the Antarctic land- 

 mass, the two English expeditions explored and wintered in the " Victoria Quadrant"; 

 the German in the " Enderby," and the French in the " Weddell Quadrant" (see Waite, 

 1916). 



We have consequently collections of Polychaeta from the seas extending more 

 than half way round the Antarctic land-mass. 



During the voyage of the "Erebus" and " Terror" (1839-1843), under Sir 

 James Clarke Ross, R.N., the Antarctic was visited, but no report on Polychseta was 

 issued. It is probable that the few isolated descriptions of worms from the 

 " Antarctic," published by some of the earlier English Naturalists, such as Baird's 

 Eunice antarctica, were collected by that expedition. 



Other expeditions have visited the Antarctic in recent years, but the reports 

 on the collections of Polychseta either have not yet been issued, or certain families only 

 have received attention. The Belgian expedition (1897-1899) conveyed by the 

 " Belgica," has apparently published no report on the group. Of those obtained by 

 the Swedish expedition (1901-1903) the family Maldanidse has been dealt with by 

 Arwidsson. Of the Polychsetes gathered by the "Scotia" during the Scottish 

 National Expedition (1902-1904) the families Serpulidae and Sabellidse have been 

 reported upon by Helen Pixell ; and the Nereidae by L. N. G. Ramsay ; while the 

 British Antarctic expedition (1907-1909), under Sir E. Shackleton, has not yet issued 

 any report on the group. 



Although these various expeditions collected chiefly from the Antarctic and 

 Sub-antarctic regions, yet most of them took any opportunity that was presented of 

 gathering animals elsewhere ; but with these we are not concerned. 



In order to compare the results obtained by the " Aurora " with those of 

 previous expeditions, it may be convenient to tabulate the number of species collected, 

 and the number of new species recorded from the Antarctic seas. 



The French expeditions obtained Annelids from various localities off the South Shetland roup (e.g., ile Deception 



and Admiralty Bay), and from various stations near the islands lying to the north, and, chiefly, to the south of Graham 



Land, e g , Terre Alexandra, Terre Fallie>e, ile Booth Wandel (where Port Charcot is situated), ile Wiencke (Port 



T r i kroy), Sle Petermann (at Port Circoncision), ile Anvers (where is Biscoc Bay), Ac. It will be sufficient to refer to these 



iie i. genera! by th term "South American Antartk'," t~cr than repeat every locality when listing distribution. 



