284 Proceedings, i:c., for ISSQ. 



6. Further observations of the local sea currents with their 

 temperatures are desirable, with a view of ascertaining the existence 

 of open water or of passages leading towards the Pole. 



7. Dr. Croll has calculated that the edge of the Polar ice cap 

 must be squeezed off the land at the minimum rate of speed of a 

 quarter of a mile per annum, and this estimate requires to be checked 

 bj actual measurement. 



8. Many interesting geological problems present themselves for 

 solution ; amongst others the structure of the cones of the volcanic 

 mountains, Erebus and Terror, may be modified superficially by the 

 intercalation of layers of frozen snow between the strata composed 

 of ejected matter. 



Again their position at the end of a line of weak earthcrust, 

 which, starting near Behring's Straits, passes through New Zealand, 

 renders it a matter of importance that their recent condition should 

 be known, as it might be such as would confirm or confute the 

 ■existence of a seismic connection with the latter island, which is 

 now speculatively inferred. 



9. The discovery of fossils in any Antarctic formations would be 

 an event of peculiar interest. The South Polar regions may have 

 had secular climatic changes as great as those which have been 

 experienced by the North Polar. If such have occurred — if South 

 Polar lands now icebound were once as prolific of life as Disco and 

 Spitzbergen have been — then, like Spitzbergen and Disco, they may 

 still retain organic evidences of the fact in the shape of fossil-bearing 

 beds, and to find these would be to discover the key to the past 

 history of the southern hemisphere. 



10. The climatology of this region requires further investigation. 

 The permanent existence of extreme conditions over an area so 

 immense, and situated so near to Australasia, must re-act powerfully 

 upon our climate. The weather recorded in the highest southern 

 latitudes yet attained was marked by calms, blue skies, clear atmo- 

 sphere, and a limited range of temperature concurring in a degree 

 which contrasts favourably with the climate of the Arctic, and 

 which surprised Ross and his companions. 



11. The position of the South Magnetic Pole ought to be again 

 •determined in order to ascertain whether any change of location has 

 occurred since Ross' time. 



12. It is desirable that pendulum observations should be taken 

 at points situated around and as near as possible to the Pole in 

 order to enable physicists to calculate the form of that part of the 

 earth's figure. 



13. The phenomena of auroras present a wide and important 

 field for research ; extended observations, such as Dr. Sophus 

 Tromholt has recently made in the north, ought to be repeated in 

 the southern hemisphere, but to be effective it is indispensable that 

 they should be conducted in very high latitudes. Recently, some 



