10 T. V. HODGSON. 
the water was generally full of ice crystals which, with the jolting of the sledge as 
it travelled shipwards, cut the more delicate specimens to pieces. 
If the flora of McMurdo Sound was poor, the fauna was extremely rich, as the 
collections described in this and other volumes show. It is to be regretted that the 
difficulties of the investigation precluded the capture of specimens from greater depths 
and distances from the ship, so that a more complete comparison of the fauna at 
different zones could be made. 
APPENDIX. 
Two other matters require attention by those who visit the distant south. One concerns the trawls 
and nets generally. On the outward voyage of the ‘ Discovery’ it was found extremely difficult, if not 
impossible, to keep the nets dry owing to constant leakage into the deck-houses. As this bade fair to 
continue throughout the voyage, as it actually did, all the nets were tarred in New Zealand as an attempt 
to preserve them; it was successful in this respect, but it depreciated their value for work in cold 
temperatures. They became so hard as to be difficult to manipulate, and also inflicted far more injury on 
the specimens than they would have done if treated in another way. A thorough soaking in oil is 
suggested. 
The other matter concerns the work at sea ; as a matter of fact very little was done. An accumulator 
of some form is almost a necessity, certainly if any extensive work is contemplated. The one provided was 
the old pattern of india-rubber bands as supplied to H.M.S. ‘Challenger.’ The instrument was quite 
useless. The cold weather rendered the rubber bands hard and brittle ; apart from that, the days of the 
hemp rope are over, and the great weight of steel ropes renders the use of such an accumulator a very 
cumbrous affair. The only kind that can be used in a Polar climate is one made of steel springs, such 
as that used by H.S.H. the Prince of Monaco, or by the Norwegian Government on board the 
‘ Michael Sars.’ 
