Arctic Natural History. 83 



sea over the edge of the glacier. To the eastward of this 

 glacier there is a second, which appeared to be a little higher, 

 where it entered the water, than the former, and it was also 

 of greater breadth. The surface was quite white, and did not 

 appear to have a single fragment of rock upon it ; the night, 

 however, was coming on, and this precluded a sufficiently 

 correct view to enable one to make out the presence or entire 

 absence of foreign bodies. These two glaciers, although 

 extending to the bottom at a depth of sixty to seventy fa- 

 thoms, appear in very humble contrast beside the towering 

 cubes which escape annually, through the deep valleys, from 

 the immense glacier range of the Greenland continent into 

 Davis Straits, and which in some cases (Claushaven, lat. 69°) 

 rise to a height of nearly three hundred feet, and raise mo- 

 raines at the bottom, at the depth of the sante number of 

 fathoms. — (Sutherland's Journal of Captain Penny's Voy- 

 age to Wellington Channel.) 

 j 



14. Ice and Sea-Water Coloured by the Diatomacem. 



At my request, made previous to the departure of the 

 expedition, Dr Sutherland paid special attention to the 

 colouring matters of ice and sea-water ; samples of such 

 from different localities were carefully collected and forwarded 

 for my inspection. They were found to consist almost solely 

 of Diatomacese ; and in some instances fresh water forms 

 were detected, though rather sparingly, intermixed with 

 others exclusively marine. This is not surprising when we 

 consider the copious discharges of fresh water from the land, 

 occasioned by the melting of snow and ice during the brief 

 summer. 



The contents of the alimentary canal of examples of Leda, 

 Nucula, and Crenella, dredged in Assistance Bay, consisted 

 of mud in a fine state of division, including also numerous 

 Diatomaceae identical with those colouring the ice and the 

 water. 



Though not a new fact, it is one of some interest in rela- 

 tion to the existence of animal life in those high latitudes. 

 Where Diatomacese abound, certain Mollusca obtain sure 



f2 



