86 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



he mapped the coast southward to Tasiusak in 65° 35' N. 

 latitude.* There are, however, indications that a change is 

 taking place. The Norwegian Walrus-hunter ' Hertha ' found 

 the ice very heavy in the past season on the coast of Franz Josef 

 Land, and was unable to reach Cape Flora. The ' Stella Polaris ' 

 also experienced similar difficulties in the same seas ; and, as will 

 be seen, the west coast of Spitzbergen was encumbered with 

 heavy ice, forming a great contrast to the open condition of the 

 Greenland coast. But here also Capt. Robertson reports that 

 the ice was accumulating, and the prevailing winds were easterly 

 up to the time of his departing for Davis Strait on June 10th. A 

 stoppage of the southerly drift, especially if accompanied by 

 severe frosts cementing the pack together, would rapidly restore 

 the normal condition of the ice, and the Greenland coast, as well 

 as the seas to the east of Bear Island, would again be rendered 

 unapproachable. 



Now, when we consider that the presence of ice sufficiently 

 heavy, although not too close, upon their feeding-grounds in 

 about 75° to 79° N. latitude in the meridian of Greenwich, and 

 again in about 73° N. and 13° W. longitude, is an absolute 

 necessity for the well-being of the Right Whale, and that the 

 Harp Seals haul up to whelp on the heavy ice usually found in 

 certain well-known localities to the north-east of Jan Mayen, 

 there seems little room for surprise that in the altered conditions 

 which have prevailed of late years there should have been such a 

 marked absence of both these animals. It is a question what 

 has become of the Right Whales which formerly so abounded in 

 the Greenland Seas : have they been totally fished out, or have 



='• L. c. p. 663. — The expedition met with Musk Oxen in abundance in the 

 neighbourhood of Scoresby's Sound, and brought home one calf alive, in order to 

 secure which, it is said, a herd of fourteen were shot down. Later on a second 

 calf, which did not live, was obtained by the same costly process. The Wah'us- 

 hunters also brought home fourteen young ones alive ; one yearling male 

 was sent to the Hamburg Zoological Gardens, and five to Antwerp ; but 

 three of the latter died in transit. As a writer in the ' Field ' of Oct. 20th 

 observes, " it would be interesting to know how many of these harmless 

 animals were shot down by the Norwegian hunters this season to enable them 

 to capture the fourteen calves ? " It is evident that the sooner the ice closes 

 again on the Greenland coast, the better will be the chance of the survival of 

 this interesting animal in that locaHty. 



