562 



NA TURE 



[April 13, 1905 



Cladophlebis, Pterophyllum, and Otozamites arc 

 given. 



Some form of fossil plant was found by the 

 geologist of the Discovery as far south as lat. 78°, 

 but it has been found quite impossible to identify it 

 on account of the imperfect nature of the specimen. 



The second part of the book makes some thrilling 

 reading, but adds very little to our knowledge. The 

 attempt of Dr. .Andersson, Lieut. Duse and seaman 

 Grunden to reach Nordenskjold across the ice from 

 the Antarctic in the summer of 1902-3, their failure 

 either to reach the winter quarters or to regain the 

 ship, and subsequent lonely winter in Hope Bay, is 

 given in detail. The Antarctic foundered on February 

 12, 1903, as the result of a severe ice " nip," and the 

 crew succeeded in reaching Paulet Island across the 

 ice, where they spent the winter under extremely try- 

 ing conditions. Fortunately, both Dr. .Andcrsson and 

 Captain Larsen and their parties succeeded in 

 reaching Nordenskjold's winter quarters in the fol- 

 lowing summer, and, with the e.xception of a sailor 

 who died on Paulet Island, all were rescued by the 

 .Argentine ship Uruguay in November, 1903. 



The book consists of about 600 pages, and there 

 are a large number of illustrations, some of which 

 are from crude drawings and are indifferently repro- 

 duced. The coloured plates might have been advan- 

 tageously omitted, as they give no idea of the extreme 

 delicacy and beauty of Antarctic colour. Here and 

 there are slight slips, such, for instance, as appears 

 on p. 119, where the velocity of the wind is given 

 as forty-five miles per second ! However, there are 

 no serious blemishes. The field of operations was, 

 geographically, a limited one, and well outside the 

 .Antarctic Circle. Scientifically we may look forward 

 to more interesting results. No attempt has been 

 made to give an account of the scientific work, and 

 Dr. Nordenskjold hints that several vears must elapse 

 before the results of the voyage of the Antarctic can 

 be published in full. ' L. C. B. 



A NEW BRITISH MARINE EXPEDITION. 

 'T'HE hydrographical and biological investigation 

 of the central and western parts of the Indian 

 Ocean will this year be the object of a special cruise 

 of H.M.S. Sealark, which is fixed to leave Colombo 

 for the purpose about .April 20. This vacht, which 

 is the latest addition to the survey vessels of the Navy, 

 is under the command of Captain Bovie Somerville, 

 who will be accompanied by two scientific civilians, 

 Mr. J. Stanley Gardiner and' Mr. C. Forster Cooper. 



It will be remembered that the Indian Ocean was 

 not visited by the Challenger Expedition in the 

 famous cruise around the world, the course then taken 

 lying further to the south, almost within the .Ant- 

 arctic circle. Meantime, however, knowledge of the 

 region has been steadily increased bv the exertions 

 of individual explorers and by special .Admiralty 

 surveys. To the east there lias been continuous 

 progress, culminating in the Dutch Siboga E.xpedi- 

 tion of 1899-1900 through the East Indies, while 

 other explorers have investigated Keeling Atoll, 

 Christmas Island, and parts of Torres Straits and 

 Western .Australia. To the north, the Indian survey 

 vessel Investigator has been active from the Persian 

 Gulf almost to the Straits of Malacca, while individual 

 explorers have borne their full share. Prof. Ortmann 

 examined the reefs of Ceylon, and Prof. Herdman 

 is now publishing a full account of the marine fauna 

 and flora of that region. In addition, Mr. Stanley 

 Gardiner, with Messrs. Borradaile and Forster 

 Coo[)er. devoted sixteen months in 1899-Kino to the 

 NO. T85O, VOL. 7 l] 



examination of the Laccadives and Maldives, being 

 followed through the same region in 1901 by Prof. 

 .Alexander Agassiz, who devoted himself mainly to 

 the coral reefs, with the surface and the deeper 

 pelagic fauna. 



The Red Sea and the coast of East .Africa is 

 largely a German zone, but to the south a regular 

 systematic investigation of the hydrography and 

 biology is being undertaken by Cape Colony in con- 

 nection with its sea fisheries. The French have 

 accumulated much knowledge of Madagascar (mainly 

 of the land), while Rodriguez and Mauritius have be- 

 come fairly well known, to a large extent owing to 

 the Royal Society Expedition of 1S74. Of greater 

 importance, however, were the .Admiralty survej-s of 

 the numerous islands and banks to the north of and 

 around Madagascar, carried out for the most part 

 by Captain (now .Admiral Sir Wm.) \\'harton. 

 Lastly, the German Valdivia Expedition in 1S98-9 ran 

 a rapid traverse from St. Paul to Nicobar, Ceylon, 

 Chagos, Seychelles, and up the East African coast. 

 Its work showed the existence of a pelagic fauna at 

 all depths, and of practically the same deep-sea fauna 

 as exists in other oceans. .A relatively shallow bank 

 was found between Chagos and the Seychelles, an 

 important discovery which ought to have been 

 followed up by an extended investigation of the 

 region. 



The present expedition, organised by Mr. Stanley 

 Gardiner, is an attempt to correlate in some degree 

 the work of all these different expeditions and ex- 

 plorers by a thorough investigation of the oceano- 

 graphy and biology of the region between India and 

 Madagascar, and is the direct outcome of the Maldive 

 and Laccadive expedition of 1899-1900. .As at present 

 proposed, H.M.S. Sealark. after leaving Ceylon, will 

 proceed to the Chagos .Archipelago, situated to the 

 south of the Maldives in lat. 7° S. This group, for 

 the topography of which we are at present depending 

 almost entirely on a survey made by Captain Sloresby 

 in 1S37, consists of a series of atolls and submerged 

 banks, of which Great Chagos, an irregular circle 

 upwards of seventy miles in diameter, is the most 

 conspicuous, being the largest existing circular coral 

 reef with a basin in the centre. It is, however, 

 perhaps better known through the atoll of Diego 

 Garcia to the south-east, at one time used as a coal- 

 ing station by the Orient Line between .Aden and 

 .Australia. That there will be plenty of hydro- 

 graphical work in the group is quite clear, for there 

 are at present no bottom soundings between any of 

 the banks, and considerable changes may reason- 

 ably be expected to have taken place in the last 

 seventy years owing to the growth of the reefs. The 

 expedition will endeavour to fill in these omissions, 

 and while this work is proceeding a close biological 

 and geological survey of the reefs will be under- 

 taken. 



From Chagos the Sealark will proceed to Mauritius, 

 which should be reached about .August i. Here fresh 

 stores will be taken in, and the collections so far 

 obtained sent home. No extensive work around the 

 island will be possible, but it is hoped to visit some 

 of the reefs. The Sealark will then proceed to 

 Cargados, a surface reef to the south of the sub- 

 merged Nazareth Bank, .ind the line will be con- 

 tinued along to the Seychelles group over the like- 

 wise submerged Saya da Malha Bank. Both these 

 banks may well lie on a crescent of relatively shallow 

 water (less than 1500 fathoms) connecting the 

 Seychelles with Mauritius, but the actual depths 

 should be settled by the expedition. In any case, the 

 examination of these tw<i great submerged banks 

 should throw much-needed light on th<= formation of 



II 

 I 



