3762 The Zoologist — Novembeb, 1873. 



Notes on the Fauna of Spitsbergen. 

 By the Rev. A. E. Eaton, M.A., Memb. Eiit. Soc. Lond. 



In arranging for liis third voyage to the Arctic Regions, Mr. B. 

 Leigh Smith invited three of his friends to accompany him in the 

 steam yacht ' Diana,' — Mr. T. B. Potter, Lieut. H. C. Chermside, 

 R.E., and myself. It was his intention to carry relief to the 

 Swedish Expedition on board the 'Polhen' (H.S.M.S.), which, as 

 he conjectured, had been beset last fall in Mossel Bay, and then to 

 continue his explorations. We arranged the conduct of the business 

 of the expedition in the following manner. Mr. Chermside made the 

 surveys, and kept such meteorological observations as he deemed 

 expedient: he also superintended the photography, in which he 

 was assisted by Mr. Smith and Mr. Potter. All three of them 

 zealously devoted themselves to the cidlus of our mythological 

 patroness, and left to ray care the miscellany of Natural History. 

 My best opportunities for collecting on shore occurred when the 

 others were away deer-stalking. On these occasions I usually 

 went unarmed, preferring the chance of being able to drive off 

 with stones any bear that might attempt to make a friendly 

 advance upon me, to the certainty of being overloaded through the 

 addition of a gun and ammunition to the tins, hammers, chisels, 

 bottles, bag, boxes and alpenstock, which had to be disposed 

 somewhere about me. Sometimes, however, in very bearish 

 localities, one of the hands would be sent with a rifle to guard 

 me J and dull work it must have been to him to be kept loitering 

 about while such numbers of stones were being turned over, for 

 not a bear was forthcoming. An alpenstock, I may observe, is a 

 most serviceable implement to an arctic or alpine collector; for, in 

 addition to its utility in cliff-climbing and on suow slopes, its 

 spike is an excellent substitute for a trowel for rooting up plants, 

 and serves admirably as a fitting for the socket of an ordinary ring- 

 net. For a long lime I have used no other stick than an alpenstock 

 for my net in Switzerland. 



At the recommendation of Mr. J. G. Jeffreys, I provided two 

 naturalist's dredges of the usual make and size {i. e. about twenty- 

 four and thirty-two pounds weight a-piece) ; and Mr. Jeffreys very 

 kindly lent me a proper net for the smaller of them. But as no 

 less than a whale-line and all hands were required for the working 



