November 14, 1907] 



NA TURE 



U 



ANTARCTIC ANIMALS.' 



THE Trustees of the British Museum have pub- 

 lished in stately form some of the natural his- 

 tory results of the National Antarctic Expedition (igoi- 

 1904), and we cannot but express our satisfaction that 

 the volumes compare so well, both in matter and 

 " get-up," with the similar publications of other 

 European nations, and that they can be placed with- 

 out reproach on the Challenger shelves. As the 

 director of the natural history departments of the 

 British Museum says in the preface to this second 

 volume, " neither trouble nor expense has been spared 

 in order to render the illustration and presentation of 

 the natural history of the expedition worthy of the 

 generous efforts both of Captain Scott and his fellow- 

 explorers and of those who provided funds for that 



the rorqual, the Australian whale {Neobalaena mar- 

 ginata), a bottle-nose, the killer (which levies toll on 

 the seals and penguins), the dusky dolphin, and two 

 new cetaceans. Dr. Wilson gives a very interesting 

 account of the habits of the seals : — Weddell's seal 

 {Leptonychotes weddeUi), the sea-leopard (Steno- 

 rhinchus leptonyx), the crab-eating seal (Lobodon car- 

 cinophagus), the Ross seal (Ommatophoca rossi), the 

 sea-elephant (Macrorhinus leoninus), Hooker's sea- 

 lion (ArctocephaJiis hookeri). We should like to give 

 an instance of the author's graphic style : — 



" Coming back to the ship by boat from Enderby 

 Island an hour or two after sunset, and on a parti- 

 cularly dark night, with neither stars nor moon, we 

 watched the sinuous and graceful movements of about 

 six large sea-lions that followed our boat apparently 

 out of curiosity. Diving and twisting about beneath 



]ksS^ 



■ •■ i W 



Fig. I.— Emperor Penguins' Rooktry at Cape Crozier. From the "National Antarctic Expcdil 



enterprise." Another matter for congratulation is that 

 the results are being published so promptly, and for 

 this thanks are due to the energy and organising 

 ability of Mr. Jeffrey Bell, who has secured the co- 

 operation of specialists, and has acted as sub-editor of 

 the natural history portions of the reports. 



The second volume begins with Dr. Edward A. 

 Wilson's report on the mammals, a well-executed piece 

 of work, most beautifully illustrated. The Discovery 

 found no traces of the southern right whale (Balaena 

 aitstralis), which Sir James Ross reported as abundant 

 in the Ross Sea in the 'forties of the last century, but 



1 " National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1Q04." Natural History. Vol.ii., 

 Zoology (Vertebrata : Mollusca : Crustacea). Vol. iii., Zoology and Botany 

 (Invertebrata : Marine Algae, Musci), with numerous plates and illustrations. 

 No continuous pagination. (London : Printed by order of the Trustees of 

 the British Museum, 1907.) Vol. ii., 3/. ; vol. Ui., 2/. 10s. 



NO. 1985. VOL. 77] 



us in the pitch-black water, each animal was ablaze 

 with light. Every limb and every movement could 

 be seen, though they moved so rapidly that the eye 

 could scarcely follow them ; they pla\'ed with one 

 another and chased one another and the boat, now 

 coming up to blow, as we could hear, a yard or two 

 astern, and now diving deep down under the boat to 

 appear often close in under the bulwarks ; every stroke 

 of the long powerful fore flippers was accurately con- 

 veyed to our eyes in the pitchy darkness by the bril- 

 liance of the phosphorescence covering them. . . . 

 The sight was a most beautiful one. The animals 

 moved with feints, and twists, and turns, now in 

 curves, now in circles, but always with the sinuous 

 motion of the body like a fish, sunnlemented by power- 

 ful strokes of the long fore flippers, and always with 



