A EIT 1 bs (OF 
THE OTTAWA NATURALIST. 
Vou. XIX. OTTAWA, JULY, 1905. No. 4 
“ A NATURALIST IN THE FROZEN NORTH. 
By ANDREW HALKETT. 
Beyond the ordinary range of observation are vast ice-bound 
and snew-clad regions, where nature, although not there at all 
times profuse in the manifestation of her life forms, unfolds before 
the eye of the naturalist who may be fortunate enough to visit 
those far away places, creatures remarkable in their structure, and 
quite as remarkable in their life-histories and habits. Something 
is already known concerning certain of the animals which inhabit 
the frozen North: much, very much indeed, remains to be found 
out. The fields where those creatures have struggled to exist, 
and have survived, are vastly extensive, and their habitats very 
varied, and often singular. They exist in divers environments: 
they swarm in the open sea, creep about or remain stationary deep 
down upon its bed ; they swim at its surface, or fly immediately 
over it, or yet again in the upper air; they bury themselves in 
mucky substances along the beach, or in sand in pools of salt 
water ; they hide themselves and take refuge among alge and 
under stones; they crawl along among the leaves of stunted 
plants, and hover among arctic flowers ; they move about amid 
the azoic rocks of the barrens, and even live beneath the ice in 
fresh-water ponds formed of melted snow. 
Furthermore, there are many delicate forms, such as the 
medusoids,.and other hydrozoans, which cannot well be preserved 
aS museum specimens ; therefore, an adequate conception of those 
could be acquired only through coloured illustrations, so that they 
await the skill of an artist, with pencil and brush to figure them 
on the spot. 
