PROTOZOA FROM SOILS AND MOSSES OF SPITSBERGEN. -149 
Some Protozoa from the Soils and Mosses of Spitsbergen. Results 
of the Oxford University Expedition to Spitsbergen, No. 27. 
By H. Sandon. (Communicated by D. Ward Cutler, F.L.S.) 
[From the Protozoology Department, Rothamsted.] 
(Plate 24 and 6 Text-figures.) 
[Read 7tli .Tune, 1923.] 
The protozoal fauna of Spitsbergen and of the neighbouring lands is in 
some respects already fairly well known. As far back as 1869, Ehren- 
berg (14) identified four species in material brought back from there, and 
more recentlj^ Scourfield (29) and Penard (83) have published extensive 
lists of collections from Advent Bay, Green Harbour, and Amsterdam Is. 
The establishment of a biological station on the Murmansk coast enabled 
Awerinzew (2-4) to carry out investigations of the protozoa of that region, 
and his collections extended as far as Bear Island, the southernmost island 
of the Spitsbergen Archipelago ; while Mereschkowski (19) and Levander (18) 
have also identified numerous species from the northern parts of Finland, 
Russia, and Siberia. Scourfield, Penard, and Awerinzew, however, confined 
their attention entirely to the inhabitants of mosses, and in particular to the 
testaceous rhizopods, and none of the authors since Ehreuberg have investi- 
gated the soil-dwelling forms. It has recentl}^ been shown that in temperate 
lands protozoa inhabit the soil in such large numbers that they must play an 
important part in the activities of the soil (see especially 12) ; and a 
knowledge of the soil protozoa fi'om localities subject to extreme climatic 
conditions therefore assumes considerable interest, not only in relation to the 
general ecological problems of those regions, but also because of the light it 
may be expected to throw on the influence of climatic conditions on the soil 
organisms. 
The material kindly placed at my disposal by the members of the Oxford 
University Expedition consisted of three samples of mud from the brackish 
pools near Bruce City described by Walton (33), five samples of soils from 
various localities, and fifteen samples of mosses ; and the supplementary 
expedition of 1922 also brought back three samples of soil. The soil samples 
were all packed in tightly-fitting tins which had previously been sterilised 
by heat, and the mosses had been dried and sealed up in envelopes. 
linn, journ. — zoology, vol. xsxv. 33 
