44 
died, as he thinks from the absence of light as much as from the extreme 
cold. 
The effects of refraction are particularly noticed by Arctic voyagers. 
The immense amount of evaporation constantly going on during the 
summer from the melting of the ice, produces an unusually humid 
condition of the atmosphere on and near the surface, a state of things 
eminently favorable to the phenomenon of mirage, of which many very 
interesting instances are on record. Akin to this phenomenon are those of 
mock suns and moons, both very common in these regions. These in 
combination with halos are sometimes seen for many hours together and 
are attributed to the presence in the atmosphere of innumerable spiculae of 
ice, forming so many minute points of reflection and refraction. They are 
most common in the winter months, alternating with dense fogs which for 
days together conceal every distant object upon the surface of the earth 
and sea and quite shut out the glories of the heavens. 
The question of an open polar sea has been much discussed during the 
last few years, and many circumstances have contributed to foster the 
opinion that such an open basin exists in the vicinity of the north pole. 
Drs. Kane and Hayes succeeded, the former by one of his sledge parties and 
the latter in his own person, in reaching an ©pen sea perfectly free from 
ice in latitude 80° and 82|° respectively, whilst their ships were frozen up 
300 miles to the south. Subsequent exploration by a German expedition 
fully confirms this discovery. 
The third part of the "paper was occupied with a rapid review of the 
animal life of the Arctic regions. This is by no means so scarce as might 
be expected, except during the depth of winter. In the summer the seas 
and lakes, the rivers and plains teem with life. The birds are 
innumerable, swarming on the sea-cliffs and on the borders of the streams 
where they arrive in the early summer to hatch and bring up their young, 
and whence they migrate on the approach of winter to more congenial 
climes. The marine Mammalia crowd the bays and inlets of the Arctic 
coasts, and the land quadrupeds wander in immense numbers over the 
plains, now covered with verdure and bright with summer flowers. The 
most important members of this order were noticed and their habits 
briefly described. Of the Whale kind the Balama mysticetus of the 
Greenland seas, the Physetcr microps or Sperm Whale of the Southern 
Ocean, the White Whale (Dclphinaptcrus Beluga J and the Razor-back 
(Balccna physalis) were particularly mentioned. 
