6 
AUSTRALASIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 
At the eastern corner of the Australian Quadrant; Cape Adare and McMurdo Sound 
have been searched in succession by the expeditions that sailed in the “ Southern Cross,” 
Discovery,” “ Nimrod,” and the “ Terra Nova.” While at the western extremity 
of this quadrant the zoologists of the “ Gauss ” obtained a collection larger than those 
of all the eastern parties combined. Between these points, for an extent of more than 
2,000 miles, nothing was known of the fauna, so that a collection from an intermediate 
position in Adelie Land was particularly desirable. Such a position was found in 
Commonwealth Bay, the main base of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, which 
was examined as fully as the severe weather conditions allowed. In several features 
this station differed from that of McMurdo Sound. In the first place the latitude is 10° 
lower, and the climate presumably is correspondingly milder. Accordingly a sublittoral 
fauna and flora appear to rise nearer to the surface here than has been noted from 
any other part of Antarctica. 
Usually the Antarctic ice-foot not only ploughs out all intertidal or beach life, 
but represses existence for a depth of several fathoms. Murray* has described how 
he found the ground barren down to the lowest level reached by floating ice-keels, and 
how, beyond 25 fathoms off Cape Royds, he found organisms not only existing, but 
luxuriating, in dense and continuous masses. 
Unusual meteorological conditions prevail in Commonwealth Bay, the ice being 
generally blown out to sea as it forms, so that it rarely fringes the shore. From the 
surface, as far as the eye can reach down, is seen a jungle of giant algfe, among the roots 
and fronds of which numerous animals of all classes find shelter. The fronds of the 
seaweed sometimes become encased in ice, which, accumulating in large masses, lifts 
the weed from the ground. “ A branching stem found floating in the harbour measured 
18ft. in length.”f On December 18th, 1913, the Mackellar Islets in Commonwealth 
Bay were found to be “ kelp-fringed,’’J but it is not known whether the kelp was 
perennial or a summer crop. The luxuriance of the kelp in February, 1912, interfered 
with the working of the fish trap. 
Touching the Marine Biology of Commonwealth Bay, Sir D. Mawson continues 
(p. 165), “ Hunter, with the small hand-dredge, brought up abundant samples of life 
from depths ranging to 50 fathoms. In water shallower than 10 fathoms the variety 
of specimens was not great, including seaweeds up to 18ft. or more in length, a couple 
of forms of star-fish, various small mollusca, two or three varieties of fish, several sea- 
spiders, hydroids. and lace corals, and, in greater profusion, worms and small crustaceans. 
In deeper waters the life became much richer, so that examples of almost every known 
class of marine animals were represented. Early in June the sea bottom, in depths 
less than 10 fathoms, had become so coated with ice that dredging in shallow water 
was suspended. Floating, or swimming freely, were examples of pteropods, worms, 
* Murray.—Brit. Antarct. Exped. Zool. ii., 1911, p. 1. f Mawson. — “The Home of the Blizzard,” ii., 1915, p. 132. 
J Mawson. — “The Home of the Blizzard,” ii., 1915, p. 258. 
