6 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
which I examined were empty. My father informs me that the 
capture of these ‘‘ Spots” formed, until some twenty or thirty 
years ago, a fishery of considerable importance ; and it is clear 
that if the Seals are allowed to multiply by an extension of the 
close time, the Saddle Seal fishing would, to a large extent, be 
restricted to their capture at this age. The ‘‘ Spots” are found 
on the scattered pieces of ice at the pack edge, the fishing being 
carried on during the latter part of April and the beginning of 
-May. The Seals take the ice early in the morning, on which 
they sleep during the day, entering the water again at night, 
probably to feed. 
May 6.—Lat. 75° 29’, long. 5°18’. Water alternately blue 
and green; temperature at the surface, 30°. Inthe green water I 
noticed a great abundance of minute organisms, just visible to 
the naked eye. They appeared to consist of a spherical mass 
of colourless, gelatinous matter, with collections of cells (probably 
diatoms) embedded in different parts of its matrix. I afterwards 
found that although these organisms were usually, they were 
not always, present in the green or diatom-stained water, while 
a few occurred occasionally in the blue unstained parts of 
the sea. 
May 11 to 14.—During our progress northward through thé 
S.E. pack the sea had an olive-green, and sometimes a brownish, 
colour, owing to the presence of Diatomacee. The ice I noticed, 
as the ship tore it up with her iron-shod stem, was in many 
places stained a yellowish brown colour. This is the condition 
sometimes known to the whalers as “ rotten ice.” I observed 
that when the ship came in contact with a piece of discoloured 
ice, it had a tendency to split along its plane of flotation into 
two horizontal halves, a deal of discolouring matter being 
exposed. So far then, the diatoms, appeared to be locked up in 
a central and horizontal stratum of the ice, agreeing with its 
plane of flotation, and this view I afterwards found was sup- 
ported by making sections of the ice itself. Later on we 
frequently noticed pieces of ice with their margins, and especially 
the cavities, extending horizontally inwards, formed by the 
action of the sea along the line of flotation, stained yellowish 
brown with diatoms. Finally, the discoloration was almost 
entirely restricted to the “young” or ‘‘bay” ice of which the 
8.E. pack is formed, the much more permanent “heavy” or 
