1 B. LÖNNBERG, CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE EAUNA OF SOUTH GEORGIA. 



equipment of the kind invented and used in Norway for the whaling industry should 

 prove to be profitable. When the present author received information about this 

 Captain Larsen's plan be asked for permission to send a collector witb him to South 

 Georgia. Captain Larsen kindly assented to this, and Mr. Erik Sörling, Assistant 

 taxidermist at the Swedish Natural Hi story Museum in Stockholm was allowed to 

 accompany him on his expedition. In consequence of the fact that the enterprise was 

 just about to be started and bad economic, not scientific aims the accommodations 

 for scientific collecting could not always be so very comfortably arranged, but Cap- 

 tain Larsen kindly afforded all the help he, under the prevailing circumstances, was 

 able to give. For this kindness and for all favours bestowed upon Sörling during 

 his stay at South Georgia from the middle of No v. 1904 to the end of Sept. 1905 

 as well as for the keen interest Captain Larsen always has taken in scientific re- 

 searches I wish to render him here publicly my best thanks on behalf of the institu- 

 tion I have the honour of administering, and at the same time personalhy as a friend. 



During Captain C. A. Larsen's absence from June 1 t. 1905 his brother Cap- 

 tain L. E. Larsen conducted the business at the factory and he showed the same 

 kindness and readiness to assist as his brother, and therefore to him as well warm 

 thanks are due for what he has done for the promotion of Sörling's work. 



I wish however, in the first place, to recognize with full appreciation the work 

 done by Sörling himself. The preparation of a whale skeleton is certainly a heavy 

 task and he has prepared three such, prepared skins and skeletons of big Elephant- 

 seals, of Leopard-seals and Weddel-seals, preserved skins and skeletons of a fair 

 collection of birds, preserved some fishes etc. In addition to this he found time to 

 collect some eggs and chicks, and to prepare a valuable embryological material of 

 penguins for my friend Professor Erik Muller, and to make a small collection of 

 invertebrates. If to this is added that everything which he has carried home proves 

 that the work has been done with great care, I think, that it must be admitted that 

 he has acquitted himself of his charge in a way that deserves full approval. 



The following päper contains a treatise on the vertebrate fauna of South Geor- 

 gia based on the collections and the interesting field-notes made by Sörling. In a 

 låter paper the osteology of the whales and other results of his expedition will be 

 published. 



Before the account about the animals is begun it may be suitable to make some 

 previous remarks about the natural conditions of this island. 



Concerning the climate my friend Professor H. E. Hamberg has kindly favoured 

 me with the following abstract: »The climate of South Georgia (54° 31' S. lat.; 36° 

 5' W. long.) is in its leading features known chiefly through the researches of the 

 German Expedition at its station in Royal Bay on the northeastern coast of the 

 island during the time Sept. 15th 1882 — Sept. 3d 1883. Observations and notes con- 

 cerning the weather were also made by Captain Larsen and Mr. E. Sörling in Cum- 

 berland Bay during the months Jan. — Aug. 1905.» 



»The athmospheric pressure at the sea level is, as a rule, rather low althongh 

 not so low as in the true antarctic regions. Its mean height may be about 745 mm- 



