FLORA AND FAUNA 



eighteen. No less than sixty-seven of these are en- 

 demic in Antarctica. It is interesting to note that 

 while thirty-two are also found in South America, no 

 less than twenty-five also occur in far-away New Zea- 

 land. Furthermore, practically half the Antarctic 

 lichens are common also to the Arctic flora. Darbi- 

 shire's list shows the following as important genera in 

 Antarctica in addition to those specified above ; Lecidea, 

 Rhizocarpon, Gyrophora, Cladonia, Placodium, Buellia, 

 and Acorospora. Lecanora has twice as many species 

 as any other. 



Fauna 



It is clear from the preceding description of the land 

 flora that there is no food available for higher animals 

 on the Antarctic mainland, and I do not propose to 

 discuss the flora and fauna of the sub-Antarctic islands 

 in this necessarily brief account. But the seas teem 

 with life, at any rate in the summer. I shall never 

 forget our first sight of a penguin rookery at Cape 

 Crozier on New Year's Day, 191 1. The sea was per- 

 fectly full of the birds cruising about in search of 

 shrimps {Eiiphmisia, etc.) for food. I have never 

 seen seas so teeming with life. The explanation is 

 that these polar waters are free from bacteria which 

 break up protoplasm and so render it to some extent 

 useless for food. The cold waters act as a kind of 

 cold storage, and supply unlimited food material for 

 higher organisms in the form of diatoms, algae, and 

 protozoa which quickly vanish after death in warmer 

 regions. At the other end of the scale of life in the 



203 



