﻿Arctic Rotifers collected hy Br William S. Bruce. 127 



4. Ehrenberg, C. G., Das organische kleinste Leben, etc., 



Monatsher. k. Akad. Wiss. Berl., 1853, p. 314. 



5. Das unsichtbar wirkende Leben cler Nordpolarzone, 



Die zweite Deutsche Nor dipolar fakrt, 1869-71, Bd. 2, 1748. 



6. Goes, A. von, Om Tardigrader, Aiiguillulee, etc., Ofvers k. 



Vet.-Akad. Fork., 1862, p. 18. 



7. Murray, J., A New Family, etc.. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., 



xli., 1905, p. 367. 



8. Weber, E. F., Faune Rotatorienne du Bassin du Leman, 



Rev. Suisse de Zool., v., 1898, p. 263. 



9. Western, G., Notes on Rotifers, Jour. Quekett Jlicr. Club, 



v., 1893, p. 155. 



IX. "Scotia " Collections. — Hote on Microscopic Bife in Gough 

 Bsland, South Atlantic Ocean. By James Murray, Esq. 

 Communicated by William Evans, Esq., F.R.S.E. 



(Read 25tli November 1907.) 



By favour of Dr William S. Bruce and Mr E. N. Rudmose 

 Brown, I was allowed to examine a small tuft of moss from 

 Gough Island, or Diego Alvarez. The material was collected 

 by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition when the 

 "Scotia" visited the island in April 1904. 



Mr Brown (1) speaks of the luxuriant vegetation of the 

 island, which is " clothed in green from the water's edge to 

 almost the summit," of the " moss-clothed cliffs and luxuri- 

 antly growing ferns and flowers " (2), suggesting a paradise 

 for the microscopist. It may be confidently affirmed that 

 Gough Island will be found to have a rich microscopic 

 fauna, as every land yet investigated, having a climate 

 favourable to the growth of moss, maintains abundant 

 microscopic life of many classes. 



It was therefore with disappointment that I found the one 

 little tuft of moss available to be an unfavourable specimen. 

 It may have been already washed, in preparing it as a 

 botanical specimen, but the sediment I obtained by washing 

 was very small in quantity, and contained few recognisable 

 organisms. 



