DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY OF THE 



MARINE INVERTEBRATES OF 



POINT BARROW, ALASKA 



By G. E. MacGINITIE 



Kerckhoff Marine Laboratory 

 California Institute of Technology 



(With 8 Plates) 



INTRODUCTION 

 ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS i 



Our knowledge of the fauna of Arctic waters is fairly complete for 

 some areas, scanty for others, and totally lacking for still others. The 

 European Arctic and the eastern Canadian Arctic have been more 

 thoroughly investigated than have the western Canadian Arctic and 

 the Alaskan Arctic. The following partial recapitulation of expedi- 

 tions and investigations gives some idea of the European research 

 on the biology of the Arctic Ocean. 



As early as 1587 the British, under John Davis, explored around 

 west Greenland as far north as latitude 72° 12', and in the next two 

 centuries the Dutch, under Willem Barents and Henry Hudson, and 

 the British, under C. J. Phipps, explored around Spitsbergen to lati- 

 tude 8o°48' N. From 1879 to 1882 the British continued explorations 

 around Spitsbergen, Jan Mayen, and Franz Joseph Land. Such 

 expeditions as the above and that of the Maud (see below) were 

 more exploratory and oceanographical than biological in nature. The 

 Second German Northpolar Expedition, under Capt. Karl Koldewey 

 (1869-70), explored around east Greenland. Dredging excursions to 

 Iceland were carried out under Verkruzen about 1872. The Danish 

 Ingolf Expedition of 1879 also explored around east Greenland. Den 

 Norske Nordhavsexpeditionen of 1876-78 worked in the European 

 Arctic. The west coast of Greenland was explored in 1892. The 



^ The present study was made possible through contracts of the California 

 Institute of Technology (summer, 1948) and The Johns Hopkins University 

 (June 1949- August 1950) with the Office of Naval Research (Contract and Task 

 Order No. N6-0NR 243-16; Project No. NR 162 911). 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS, VOL. 128, NO. 9 



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