494 MR. A. NEWTON ON THE ZOOLOGY OF SPITSBERGEN. [Nov. 8, 
12. Norres on THE ZOOLOGY OF SPITSBERGEN. By ALFRED 
Newron, M.A., F.L.S., F.Z.S. 
In the month of May last, Mr. Edward Birkbeck offered me a 
berth in his yacht, the ‘Sultana,’ R. T. Y. C., on a voyage to Spits- 
bergen. As this was a country I had long been desirous to visit, I 
was very glad of the opportunity of seeing it, which had so unex- 
pectedly presented itself. On the 3lst of May I found myself on 
board tie vessel at Lowestoft, and the following morning we sailed 
northward. After a passage protracted by some tedious calms, we 
cast anchor in the Bay of Hammerfest on the evening of the 26th 
June. Here it was necessary to stay for some days, while a Nor- 
wegian “‘jegt” was being equipped to accompany us, and to take 
us, if necessary, into the ice, where the yacht, from her extreme 
length, would become embarrassed, and from her slight build dan- 
gerous. Late in the evening of the 2nd July the necessary prepa- 
rations were completed, and the ‘ Semmoline,’ a sloop of some thirty 
or forty tons, got under way. The next morning the ‘ Sultana’ fol- 
lowed, and, overhauling her consort in the narrow seas, in the course 
of the afternoon lost sight both of her and the land of Norway. On 
the afternoon of the 6th July we made the South Cape of Spitsbergen, 
bearing N.E. 
Our first rendezvous having been appointed about halfway up the 
deep bay marked on English charts as Wibelan’s Water, and known 
to Norsk walrus-hunters as Stor Fjord, which indents the archipe- 
lago of islands forming Spitsbergen, our course was altered accord- 
ingly ; but we were soon brought up, after passing a good deal of 
drift ice, by the appearance of very closely packed ice, stretching 
across as far as the state of the atmosphere would allow us to see it. 
This to our pilot, a man whose knowledge of Spitsbergen is scarcely 
surpassed by any one, was a manifest indication of the fjord being 
completely blocked up, and he did not hesitate to order us to pro- 
ceed to our second rendezvous in Ice Sound, on the west coast. 
Thither we made sail, trying as we passed northward successively to 
enter Horn and Bell Sounds, both of which we found to be imprac- 
ticable from the same cause as had been the Stor Fjord. On nearing 
Ice Sound, on the afternoon of the 8th July, we found a good deal 
of ice drifting out of its mouth ; but it was of such a kind as to cause 
no risk to the ship, with our careful captain and pilot. While we 
were watching with interest the novel scene presented to us by the 
varied shapes of the frozen masses through which we were naviga- 
ting, there was a cry of ‘‘ White Whales!” and a “school” of Be- 
luga catodon passed across our bows. Though there were the vivid 
hues of drifting ice-blocks with which to contrast them, I was agree- 
ably pleased to see that their colour stood this high trial. When, 
some years ago, I saw the so-called “‘ White Porpoises”’ of the river 
St. Lawrence, identified by Dr. Gray (Cat. Brit. Mus. Cetacea, 
pp. 78, 79) with this species, they had a very tallowy appearance ; 
now the worst that could be said of these beasts is that they looked 
the colour and consistency of a good spermaceti candle. There were 
