T, 



he material at my disposal is not very comprehensive oving to the unfortunate 

 event that the »Antarctic» was wrecked by the drift ice. The steamer sunk with 

 as great part of the collections in the neighbourhood of Paulet Island. Nevertheless, 

 the residue of the collections, which fortunately had been deposited in the Falkland 

 Islands before the catastrophe, is comprehensive enough to give us some notion of 

 the richness and the general character of the faunas of the sub- Antarctic and Ant- 

 arctic seas. Except a marvellous species of Priapulus, caught in the neighbourhood 

 of La Platå, all the other forms belonging to the gronps in question were dredged 

 from the coasts of Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, the Falklands, South Georgia and 

 the true Antarctic islands. 



The animals at my disposal have with a few exceptions been brought up with 

 the dredge from a trifling depth, from the shores and neighbouring waters. Most of 

 the results of the deep-sea explorations was destroyed when the »Antarctic» was löst. 



When I decided to under take an investigation of the Priapulids and Sipunculid^. 

 brought home from the southern cold regions, I did so in the expectation of being 

 able to throw some light on the still doubtful phenomenon of bipolarit}^. It was 

 asserted long ago that the faunas of the two glacial seas in their general feature 

 bear a strong resemblance to each other. This fact may partly be due to similar 

 chemical and physical conditions in the two seas, which are thought to give rise to 

 what is called vicarious or parallel forms, that is to say to a convergence-phenomenon, 

 b ut the true interpretation is certainly to be sought for much deeper. It must be 

 due to a close relationship. 



Considering that several investigators enumerate animals of quite the same spe- 

 cies living at the present time in the two polar seas, though they are missing in the 

 enormous oceans separating them from each other, the problem of the bipolarity 

 requires a special and careful inquiry. 



Note. As on so many previous occasions, I have to tender my sincere thanks to Mr Georg 

 Liljewall, the skilful Swedish artist, for his assistance in having executed the dravvings and 

 undertaken many preparatory researches. 



