198 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
our visit about the same at the bottom as at the surface, viz. 
+ 9° to + 10°. In spring, when the snow melts, the water 
here is probably quite fresh, in winter again cold, and as 
salt as at the bottom of the Kara Sea. Under so variable 
hydrographical conditions we might have expected an ex¬ 
ceedingly scanty marine fauna, but this was by no means the 
case. For the dredgings in the harbour gave Dr. Stuxberg a 
not inconsiderable yield, consisting of the same types as those 
which are found in the salt water at the-bottom of the Kara Sea. 
This circumstance appears to show that certain evertebrate 
types can endure a much greater variation in the temperature 
and salinity of the water than the algae, and that there is a 
number of species which, though as a rule they live in the 
strongly cooled layer of salt water at the bottom of the 
Kara Sea, can bear without injury a considerable diminution in 
the salinity of the water and an increase of temperature of 
about 12°. 
For the science of our time, which so often places the origin 
of a northern form in the south, and vice versa, as the foundation 
of very wide theoretical conclusions, a knowledge of the types 
which can live by turns in nearly fresh water of a temperature 
of -p 10°, and in water cooled to — 2°'7 and of nearly the same 
salinity as that of the Mediterranean, must have a certain 
interest. The most remarkable were, according to Dr. Stuxberg, 
the following: a species of Mysis, Diastylis Rathkei Kk.^ 
Iclothea entomon Lin., Iclothea Sahinei Kr., two species of 
Lysianassida, Pontoporeia setosa Stbrg., Halimedon hrevicalcar 
Goes, an Annelid, a Molgula, Yoldia intermedia M. Sars, 
Yoldia (?) aretica Gray, and a Solecurtus. 
Driftwood in the form both of small branches and pieces of 
roots, and of whole trees with adhering portions of branches 
and roots, occurs in such quantities at the bottom of two well- 
protected coves at Port Dickson, that the seafarer may without 
difficulty provide himself with the necessary stock of fuel. The 
