New-York tribune., 1900-11-21

| Cretaceous. He declares that no Iertlary suaIa
| have yet been found at Cape Flora The forms
there resemble those found at Cape Bohemian
| Spitzbergen and in Siberia. But DR.. Nathorst
has studied the fossil nora OF Northern Europe
and Asia for many years, and he mai spe-
cial investigation in 1898 in consequence OF
which he is satisfied that the specimens found
in Franz Josef Land younger than those OF
| Cape Bohemian and Siberia
Mr. CoIlett in preparing his memoir on the
birds had the benefit Of Na1sen's journals for
the first half Of the ships voyage and all OF
the sIedge journey. For tho latter half OF the
Fram's voyage ne relies on verbal informatioI
supplied by Captain sverirup and three Other
men. AS nearly as can he determined only
thirty three species seen. and OF these
the Identification is imperfect in few instances
owing to the fact that the specimen was not al
ways caught The most abundant Of the gulls
were the kttiwakes. There were also Ice, ivory
and red breasted gulls. Only single specimen
OF the forktail gull was seen. There is little
doubt that herring gull was seen, too The
ivory gull CPagophila eburnea) was a bold Great
ure and came enough to Nansen one day
while he was lying motionless to be caught by
hand 1t was a good deal of a nuisance. be-
cause Of its screams. which would occasionally
frighten off game that the explorers were trying
to stalk. Several very young redbreasts Rhodos-
tethia roseal secured, but their coloring
was not fully developed. Later more mature
specimens were caught. This species is the
only pictured.
Snow buntings snow owls two species of
guillemot. gull sized petrels Fumaris glacialis).
tern, or sea swallows, three species of skua
ducks CHarelda glacialis), looms elder ducks,
brent gray geese. two species Of plover, two Of
sandpiper snipe falcons, buzzards and two
kinds of aux Uhe putin. masked aux. and
little auks) were also found in more or less
abundance
Birds were practically never seen except be-
tween April or May and September. The sea-
son was too early for them when Nansen was
at the northernmost part of his sledge Journey
But the Fran found several species while drift
ing to the north of latitude 81 degrees Among
them were three species of gull Ckittiwakes.
ivory gulls and redbreasts). snow bunting,
plover (Egialitis hiaticula), tern. two kinds of
skua two of auks guillenots and the Fulmaris
glacialis (petreD. The last mentioned was seen
in latitude S5cO5. which is the furthest north
that any bird was ever observed.
The invertebrates caught in polar seas by the
Fram's drag and turned over to DR.. Sars
for examination include upward of fifty species.
many of them hitherto unknown. The greater
number were "copepods.' creatures with five
pairs of feet fitted for swimming, and of these
the majority belonged to the "calanoid' group.
On the SuppoSitiOn that the polar DdSln was
shallow inadequate means of dredging
provided Greatly to Nansens surprise, depths
of 10000 and 10000 feet were reached by the
sounding line, but his drag net rarely went
more than 500 or 600 feet below the surface.
catch at 800 or 5000 feet was exceptional. The
specimens caught, therefore represented pelagic
life rather than the situation at the bottom of
the ocean. However. the imperfect visual de-
velopment of amphipode brought up from
nearly 1900 feet suggested abysmal habits OF
existence and hinted at what might be found
lower GOWN. The highest latitude at which
specimens obtained was S5:l3.
DR.. Sars not only gives a minute description
of the rarer forms discovered, but tells the dis
tribution Of recognized forms in other parts Of
the world A close resemblance of the polar
species to the crustacea Of the North Atlantic
is observed. and there little difference be-
tween the extreme eastern and western parts
of the Fram's field of inquiry in this respect
Hence it was impossible to say whether the ex-
listing forms came from the east, by the super
fetal current in the Arctic Ocean, from the
west by deeper that sets in the opposite
direction. DR.. Sars inclines to the latter theory
species found in the polar sea were discovered
there for the first time by the Fran, but are
common in the Mediterranean and other tropical
waters. He also identified a species that has
hitherto been observed only in the warmer part
of the South Pacific.