48 



ARCTIC PROVINCE. 



morpha, appears to be common in the Arctic seas; 

 nor are the olive-coloured Algw deficient. 



The natural history of the coasts of Nova Zembla 

 we know, from the researches of Von Baer, to 

 combine the features of Spitzbergen with those of 

 the continental shores of the Arctic Ocean ; the 

 former island presenting the characters of an arm 

 of the mainland, and consequently possessing a 

 greater number of both terrestrial and marine in- 

 habitants. It is frequented by seal-hunters, who 

 take here several valuable species (Phoca leporina, 

 barbata, groenlandica, and hispida), as well as the 

 walrus. The Bjeluga (Delphinus leucos) is also an 

 object of search. The Greenland whale never strays 

 as far as Nova Zembla, from which fact Yon Baer 

 infers, that the fishery carried on by Northmen in 

 the ninth century, between it and the North Cape, 

 must have been for the fin-fish (JBalamoptera), com- 

 paratively difficult as that monster is to capture. 

 It seems more probable, however, that the great 

 whale retired from this sea, as it has lately retired 

 from the Spitzbergen seas. In all other respects 

 so far as marine mammalia are concerned, Nova 

 Zembla resembles Spitzbergen. But nine species of 

 fish, whether marine or anadromous, were met with, 

 and of these two only served to play an important 

 part in the fauna, Gadus sarda and Cyclopterus li- 

 paris. Small crustaceans, more especially Gammari, 

 are abundant, and the vast number of aquatic birds, 

 especially guillemots and gulls, are evidence that 



