i9ii] A BACTERIUM IN THE SNOW 269 
I have not been far from the hut, but had a great fear 
on one occasion that the ice had gone out in the Strait. 
The wind is dropping this evening, and I have been 
up to Wind Vane Hill. I now think the ice has remained 
fast. 
There has been astonishingly little drift with the wind, 
probably due to the fact that there has been so very 
little snowfall of late. 
Atkinson is pretty certain that he has isolated a very 
motile bacterium in the snow. It is probably air borne, 
and though no bacteria have been found in the air, this 
may be carried in upper currents and brought down by 
the snow. If correct it is an interesting discovery. 
To-night Debcnham gave a geological lecture. It was 
elementary. He gave little more than the rough origin 
and classification of rocks with a view to making his 
further lectures better understood. 
Saturday , May 13. — The wind dropped about 10 last 
night. This morning it was calm and clear save for a 
light misty veil of ice crystals through which the moon 
shone with scarce clouded brilliancy, surrounded with 
bright cruciform halo and white paraselene. Mock moons 
with prismatic patches of colour appeared in the radiant 
ring, echoes of the main source of light. Wilson has a 
charming sketch of the phenomenon. 
I went to Inaccessible Island, and climbing some way 
up the steep western face, reassured myself concerning 
the ice. It was evident that there had been no move- 
ment in consequence of yesterday's blow. 
In climbing I had to scramble up some pretty steep 
