ANTARCTIC ADVENTURE AND RESEARCH 



Microscopic Life 



Some interesting notes on the inhabitants of the 

 lakes in Cape Royds have been recorded by James 

 Murray. Orange colored algae were found to carry 

 myriads of living things. Creeping rotifers were the 

 most numerous, while water bears and mites were often 

 observed. The stones of Coast Lake were often cov- 

 ered by bright red patches, as though they had been 

 sprinkled by blood, and these patches consisted of 

 tightly packed rotifers. Experiments showed that 

 temperatures of —40° F. did not kill these animals. 

 Drying, freezing, thawing, moistening them or leaving 

 them in brine seemed to have no effect on them. It is 

 noteworthy that the adult forms, not the eggs, were 

 tested, and some of them lived until after their arrival 

 in London. The rotifers are minute worms, while the 

 water bears are allied to the insects. Of the former 

 Hydatina, Adineta and Philodina are common genera. 

 Of the water bears Macrohiohis arcticus is common. It 

 was previously only known from the Spitzbergen re- 

 gion. It is to be noted that some of these rotifers were 

 found below fifteen feet of ice on Blue Lake. This ice 

 did not melt during the expedition's stay at Cape 

 Royds, so that the rotifers well understand how to sus- 

 pend animation. 



When we started on our second summer's sledging, 

 Dr. Wilson asked us to keep a lookout for insects liv- 

 ing in the moss which we might come across on our 

 journey. Previously only fragments of various 

 "spring-tails" had been discovered among moss ob- 



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