460 



NATURE 



[February 18, 1909 



FURTHER ANTARCTIC RESULTS.' 



THE Belgian Antarctic Expedition has issued 

 another seven sections of the ten important 

 volumes which it is contributing to Antarctic 

 knowledge. Four of the new parts are technical 

 contributions to systematic zoology. Prof. Jungersen, 

 of Copenhagen, describes the Pennatulids, which 

 are represented in the collection by eight speci- 

 mens; all of them are referred to one species, the 

 Umhellula carpentcri, first discovered by the Chal- 

 lenger. Herr Buhmig, of Graz, describes the Turbel- 

 larians, a small but interesting fauna containing a new 

 genus of Acoela and three species of the characteristic 

 sub-.'\ntarctic genus Procerodes. .\ detailed account is 

 given of the anatomy of these worms, and the author 

 establishes a new genus and subfamily, the Stum- 

 merinae, for a species that had been collected by the 

 French Antarctic Expedition, and referred by Hallez to 

 Procerodes. Herr L. Plate contributes a note on the 

 Scaphopods, which are represented by one determinable 



and one indeterminable species of 



Dentalium, both collected south of 



latitude 70°. The Cirripedes arc 



described by Herr P. P. C. Hoek, 



and this group is represented by 



three species, of which one. 



Verruca mitra, is new. They all 



come from the neighbourhood of 



the Magellan Straits. But thai 



area does not appear to be rich in 



these Crustacea, and the only 



known Antarctic species is a Scal- 



pellum collected by the Challenger 



near the Antarctic Circle. 



The geographical results include 



a valuable joint report bv M. Arc- 



towski and Dr. H. R. Mill on the 



serial temperature observations. 



Ross had attempted to determine 



the temperature of the deep sea 



in the same area, but, as is well 



known, his results were mislead- 

 ing, as his thermometers were not 



protected against pressure. The 



Challenger thermometers were, of 



course, guarded against this error, 



but they recorded only the tempera- 

 tures of the coldest and warmest of 



the layers passed through during 



the sounding. Bruce, in the 



Balaeim, was better equipped ; but 

 he was only able to determine the 

 temperatures at two localities. The Belgian expedi- 

 tion, however, was able to conduct serial tempera- 

 ture soundings with such precision and in such 

 numbers that the seas which it explored are, as 



1 "R<!sultats Hu Voyage du S.Y. Belgica en 1897-g." G. Lecointe. 

 Physique tin Globe, Mesures pendulairc*, 1907. 40 pp.. g figures ; P. P. C. 

 Hoek, Zool gie, Cirripedia, 1907, 9 pp., 4 figures ; H. K. E. Juncersen, 

 Zoologie, Pennatuliden, 1907. 12 pp., 1 plate; _L. Buhmig, Zoolo^-ie, Turbel- 

 larien, 190S, 32 pp., 2 plal-s ; L. Plate, Zoologie, Scaphopo .en, 1908, 4 pp. ; 

 H. Arclowski and H. R- Mill, Oc(fanographie, l''e'ations thermiques. 

 Rapport snr les Observations thermometrioues faites aux Stations de 

 .Sondage, 1908, 36 pp., 4 plates; H. Arctowski, Gtfo'ogie, Les Glaciers, 

 Glaciers actuels et Vestiges de leur ancienne Extension, 1908, 74 pp., 18 

 plates (Anvers: D. E. Busrhmann.) 



"DevUsche Sudpolar Expedition, 1901-3." Edited by E von Dry- 

 galski. Vol. ii , Kartngmphie, Geolngie ; "P,irt ii., 1908. pp. 91-222, plates 

 ix-xxii., and 3 maps, (i) E. Werth, Aufbau und Ge^taltung von Kerguelen, 

 pp. 9i-'83, plates ix-xiv, 33 figures, 3 maps; (2) E. Phil'ppi, Gf-ologische 

 I^eoha-hlung'-n auf Kerguelen, pp. 185-207, plates xv-xxii, > figures ; (3) 

 K. Reini-ch, Petrogranhische Beschreib:'ng der Kerguelen-Gesteine, pp. 

 -00-222, 6 figures. (Berlin : G. Reimer, 1.508.I 



Vol. i.. Geographic, Heft ii. Pp. 99-280. Edited by E. von Drygalski. 

 Vol. ii., Geogra hie. Geologic, part iii., 1908, pp. 223-298. plate xxiii. 

 (i) K. von Drygalski, GcMgraphie von He.ird-Eiland, pp. 223-239, plate 

 xxiii., 3 figures; (2) E. Philipiii, Geologic der Heard-In.el, pp. 24'-2^o: 

 (3)R. R-inisch, Gestcine Her Heard. Insel, pp. 251-263, 8 figures; (4) E. 

 Vanhoff n. Tiere und Pflanzen der Heard. Insel, pp. 26s-?7r; (5) W. 

 Meinardus, Skizzc des Klim.s der Heard-lnscl, pp. 273-298, 2 figures. 



NO. 2051, VOL. 79] 



regards temperature distribution, described by Dr. 

 Mill as now one of the best-known parts of the 

 oceans. 



The observations show that the distribution of tem- 

 perature in the seas between South America and 

 Graham Land is typically sub-Antarctic. There is a 

 zone of warm water between a cold surface layer and 

 the mass of cold water below. .South of the Antarctic 

 Circle seasonal variations were found to affect the tem- 

 perature to a depth of only 150 metres. In most 

 localities the coldest water was found at the surface, 

 and the temperatures rose, sometimes regularly, to a 

 maximum in most cases at the depth of about 600 

 metres. Below that level there is a slow fall in tem- 

 perature to the sea bottom. The bearing of these ob- 

 servations on submarine topography is shown in Ger- 

 lache Strait, where only one serial temperature obser- 

 vation was made ; the temperature of the water was 

 almost uniform throughout, and the water was a little 

 colder at the bottom than at the surface. The authors, 

 therefore, conclude that Gerlache Strait is a closed 



-.\iguilles of Cape Renard 



basin, and that a shallow threshold protects it from 

 the inflow of warmer water. 



M. Lecointe, the second in conmiand of the Belgian 

 expedition, contributes a memoir on the pendulum ob- 

 servations. The frontispiece is a photograph of 

 Lieutenant E. Danco, who had charge of this work 

 until his death during the expedition. The memoir 

 gives a detailed account of the instrument employed, 

 Sterneck's half-second pendulum. It was only used 

 during the expedition at one locality, Punta Arenas, in 

 Tierra del Fuego, where the value of g was deter- 

 mined as g'8io8. 



The new contribution to the reports of the Belgian 

 expedition of widest general interest is M. Arctowski 's 

 valuable report on the glacial observations in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Magellan's Straits and in the South Shet- 

 land .Archipelago ; and the glaciers and icebergs of those 

 regions are illustrated by eighteen excellent photo- 

 graphic plates. M. Arctowski describes the former 

 greater extension of the glaciers, and regards this as 

 part of a world-wide phenomenon, for which he says 

 the explanation has yet to be found. He .adopts ex- 



