AN AUTUMN VISIT TO SPITZBERGEN. 481 



north of us, when, between 2 and 3 a.m. on the 28th, a small one 

 was seen, and a large one about 11.30, our latitude at noon being 

 75° 11' N. ; also a small one about 8 p.m. on the same evening. 



Porpoise, Phoccena communis, Cuv. ; Norwegian, "Nise."* — A 

 " school" reported by Arnesen early on the morning of Sept. 28th, 

 between 2 and 3 a.m., on our way south ; lat. at noon, 75° 11'. 



We did not see a single White Whale, Delplunapterus leucas, 

 Pallas, during the voyage, and the vessels engaged in this " fishery " 

 on the Spitzbergen coast had a very bad season, chiefly, I believe, 

 on account of the ice remaining along the coast until late in the 

 season. Ingebretsen, captain of the 'Hvitfisk,' whose large capture 

 in 1881 I mentioned in my former paper, this season only captured 

 twenty-five ! The " skjoite " which followed us into Eecherche Bay, 

 had a similar number, and others I was told had even less. One 

 cannot but be very sorry for the crews, who are paid in shares on 

 the " take," and who find themselves, after five months or so of 

 an extremely rough, hard life, with nothing but the small per- 

 centage on twenty-five Belugas to repay them, and keep them 

 through the winter, and until they can get afloat again about the 

 following May. 



Beindeer, Rangifer tarandns, Linn. ; Norwegian, "Bensdyr." — 

 There can be no question that the Beindeer of Spitzbergen are 

 much smaller animals than those of Scandinavia. Owing to the 

 enormous amount of fat they possess in autumn, and perhaps, in 

 a lesser degree, owing to their long, almost shaggy coat, the 

 Beindeer of Spitzbergen are rather different looking to those of 

 Scandinavia, and have a somewhat "cart-horsey" or "cobby" 

 appearance. The long winter hairs are nearly white, and these, 

 thickly interspersed with the rest of the coat, make the colour of 

 the Beindeer rather silver-grey. The following are the lengths 

 of Beindeer which I measured as soon as shot, before they had 

 stiffened: — Males, 59 to 62 in.;f females, 53 to 63 J in. ;% male 

 calf (September), 5l£ in. ; female calves (September), 45|- to 48|- in. 

 I am rather ashamed of having calves to record, but personally 



* The Greenland name " Nisa," given by Bell, must surely have been 

 adopted from the Danish. 



■f- No particularly good buck was obtained, and out of the large number 

 of deer met with only one really good one was seen (by M. Eabot). 



I This specimen was of unusual length, most of the specimens being 

 under 60 in. 



