52 



ARCTIC PROVINCE. 



with small fragments of shells, and of spines of 

 Echinus, and Spatangus, mingled with great quanti- 

 ties of mucus. 



In the " Fauna Groenlandica," of Otho Fabricius, 

 there are forty-one species of marine fish enume- 

 rated, and more have been added of late years, 

 by Kroyer, and other northern naturalists. The 

 additions have been chiefly of purely Arctic forms. 

 Several of those which Fabricius regarded as iden- 

 tical with more southern species, have proved 

 to be distinct. In his list he indicates differences 

 in the distribution of the species, a considerable 

 number being confined to the southernmost parts of 

 Greenland. These are exactly such as, on the 

 European side of the Atlantic, fall into the southern 

 or boundary portion of the fauna of its Arctic 

 province. One fish preeminently plays a typical 

 part in the Greenland Fauna ; this is the capelan, — 

 it is also, though not so abundantly, present in the 

 Arctic fauna of Europe, and reaches the northern 

 shores of Iceland. Of it I shall have to speak more 

 fully in a future chapter. The lump-fish and the 

 wolf-fish also have a prominent place in the Green- 

 land fauna. The latter is in the habit of crunching 

 into fragments strong shell-fish and Crustacea by 

 means of its powerful jaws. A curious and in* 

 genious attempt has lately been made to refer* the 

 fragmentary condition of the shells contained in the 

 clays of the pleistocene formation, to the voracity 



* Mr. Craig in " Geological Journal " for 1850. 



