KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 40. N:0 5. 7 



least, during the winter. Even if the pipit and the teal during the summer find food 

 enough on land and in the fresh water, the winter forces them down to the shore 

 or even ont on the floating kelp. Only one species of bird appears to be migratorj' 

 and that is the rapacious and parasitic Great skua, which chiefly preys on the eggs 

 and young of the other true seabirds. 



The sea is »teeming with fish» and the invertebrate fauna is also exceedingly 

 rich at least in individuals. The pelagic fauna shows an abundance of »kril» (Eu- 

 phausiids) which constitutes the main food for whales, many birds and fishes. As 

 the sea never is frozen, and its inhabitants find practically similar conditions all 

 the year round it could be assumed that the fauna would be identical summer and 

 winter. But such is not the case. Some of the whales migrate during the winter but 

 some seals arrive from the south to pass the winter at South Georgia. 



Although the conditions of life appear to be very uniform and simple on and 

 at this oceanic island, there are many biological problems to study and to solve, al- 

 though a good deal has been done from the time of the German Expedition and to 

 the present day. 



But since the da}^ of the discovery much has been changed to the worse. 

 That ugly spook » Extermination » which always sneaks at the discoverers heels has 

 heavily touched this poor land. The fur-seal which a little more than a hundred 

 years ago crowded the beaches of South Georgia is wholly extinct through the greed- 

 iness of man. The beautiful king-penguin, the stately appearance of which gladdened 

 the discoverers, is highly reduced in number and threatened to its existence. Who 

 dåres to foretell how long the harmless monsters, the Elephant-seals, may be allowed 

 to remain in one of their last refuges? 



It is to be hoped that the rightful owner of the island may regulate by legisla- 

 tion how heavily the animal life may be taxed and then vindicate the law, thus 

 affording protection to the beings which are most exposed to the danger of being 

 destroyed. 



Above all, wanton destruction should be strictly forbidden and heavily punish- 

 ed. For it has been witnessed how, by the crew of an Argentine vessel, merely for 

 »fun's» sake Elephant-seals have been shot and killed only to be left to rot on the 

 beach, or wounded taken their refuge to the sea only to miserably die afterwards. 

 And likewise it has been witnessed how a crowd of ruffians have broken off the 

 wings of penguins and then let them loose to see how they behaved. To such bar- 

 barisms there ought to be put an end, not only in the name of science but in the 

 na me of humanity. 



