﻿Arctic Rotifers collected hy Br Williawj S. Bruce. 121 



VIII. Arctic Rotifers collected hy Br William S. Bruce. 

 By James Murray, Esq. Communicated by William 

 Evans, Esq., E.E.S.E. 



(Read 25111 November 1907.) 



Dr William S. Bruce has kindly placed at my disposal 

 a considerable quantity of moss collected by him at various 

 times in different parts of the Arctic region. 



The expeditions in which Dr Bruce took part when these 

 collections were made are — The Jackson-Harmsworth Polar 

 Expedition, 1896 and 1897 ; Major Andrew Coats's Expedi- 

 tion to Novaya Zemlya, Wiche Islauds, and Barents' Sea, 



1898 ; H.S.H. The Prince of Alonaco's Expedition, Spitsbergen 

 and North Polar Eegions, 1898; H.S.H. The Prince of 

 Monaco's Expedition, Spitsbergen and North Polar Eegions, 



1899 ; Scottish Spitsbergen Expedition, 1906. 



All the material obtained on the earlier expeditions was 

 preserved in spirit, except a few tufts of moss from Eed 

 Bay, Spitsbergen, and some moss scraped from a walrus 

 skull in Eranz Josef Land. Even this moss, which was 

 preserved in the dry condition, was too old to give much 

 hope of finding living Eotifers, and, as a matter of fact, none 

 were found. 



In 1906, however, I was able to examine fresh moss, 

 gathered a few weeks previously in Prince Charles Eoreland, 

 Spitsbergen, by Dr Bruce, and in this I got many living 

 Eotifers. 



The list of Eotifers obtained in all these collections is not 

 a long one. It was intended to delay the publication of the 

 list till an examination could be made of the moss collected 

 by Dr Bruce in this present year (1907), but as circum- 

 stances 1 render it impossible that this can be done in the 

 meantime, the list is published as it stands. 



^ Mr James Murray is now absent serving Avitli tlie British Antarctic 

 Expedition.— W. S. B. 



VOL. XVII. K 



