MAMMALIA OF N. GREENLAND AND GRINNELL LAND. 317 
distance from present high-water level. I think it is not im- 
probable that this specimen may have been washed out of the 
mud-beds which fill up the valleys of that region to an altitude of 
several hundred feet, and from which I have taken the remains 
of Seal, Musk Ox and other animals, with abundance of drift-wood 
and the shells of most of the Mollusca now inhabiting the adjacent 
sea. If I am right in this surmise, there is no saying from what 
distance or from what direction this cranium may have been 
brought on an ice-raft. 
Mustela erminea.—The Ermine has followed the Lemming, 
Myodes torquatus, throughout its northern migrations to the 
shores of the Polar Basin, and crossing Robeson Channel in com- 
pany with this little rodent has invaded North Greenland, where 
Lieutenant Beaumont, R.N., secured an example during his sledge 
journey in latitude 82°15’ N. It doubtless extends as far south 
on the eastern shore of Greenland, where it was found by the 
Germans, as the range of the Lemming. I obtained specimens in 
Grinnell Land as far north as 82° 30’, and several examples were 
shot near Discovery Bay. Itis hunted and killed by the Arctic Fox. 
We noticed the tracks of this little animal in the snow on the re- 
appearance of sun-light, and remarked that it is infested by a tenia. 
Canis lupus.—This animal was not met with by Dr. Bessels in 
Hall Land, and consequently | hardly expected to meet with it still 
further north in Grinnell Land. However, on the Ist April, 1876, 
several Wolves made their appearance in the neighbourhood of 
the winter quarters of the ‘Alert.’ They were evidently following a 
small herd of Musk-ox, whose tracks and traces were observed in 
the vicinity. That the Wolves are able at times to secure these 
animals was shown by their droppings being composed chiefly of 
Musk-ox wool and splinters of bone. Several of our sportsmen 
started in pursuit of these Wolves, but with one exception they did 
not allow any one to approach them within three or four hundred 
yards. The exceptional Wolf followed Captain Markham, who 
was unarmed, for more than two miles, no doubt attracted by the 
retriever bitch that accompanied that officer. These Wolves were 
larger than the largest of our Eskimo dogs, and of a light gray 
colour, with long fur and drooping tail. They agreed well with 
the description by Richardson of Canis lupus-occidentalis. The 
following day, April 2nd, the Wolves still continued in the neigh- 
bourhood of the ship, and at intervals their long, melancholy, but 
