as; sea elephants are but occasional
visitors to the ice-bound regions. Although they have been exterminated
in many other places, one of their most populous resorts at the present
day is Macquarie Island.

In the case of all the hair seals a layer of blubber several inches in
thickness invests the body beneath the skin and acts as a conserver of
warmth. They are largely of value for the oil produced by rendering down
the blubber. The pelts are used for leather.

The operation of skinning seals for specimens, in low temperatures and
in the inevitable wind, was never unduly protracted. We were satisfied
merely to strip off the skin, leaving much blubber still adhering to it.
In this rough condition it was taken into the work-room of the Hut to
be cleaned. The blubber froze, and then had the consistency of hard soap
and was readily severed from the pelt. It was found that there exuded
amongst the frozen blubber a thin oil which remained liquid when
collected and exposed to low temperatures. This oil was used to
lubricate the anemometer and other instruments exposed outside.

The main part of the biological work lay in the marine collections.
Hunter with the small hand-dredge brought up abundant samples of life
from depths ranging to fifty fathoms. In water shallower than ten
fathoms the variety of specimens was not great, including seaweeds up to
eighteen or more feet in length, a couple of forms of starfish, various
small mollusca, two or three varieties of fish, several sea-spiders,
hydroids and lace corals, and, in great 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 ten fathoms had become
so coated with ice that dredging in shallow water was suspended.

Floating or swimming freely were examples of pteropods, worms,
crustaceans, ostracods, and jelly-fish. These were easily taken in the
hand-net.

In those regions where ice and water are intermingled, the temperature
of the water varies very slightly in summer and winter, remaining
approximately at freezing-point. In summer the tendency to heating is
neutralized by a solution of some of the ice, and in winter the cold is
absorbed in the production of a surface layer of ice. This constancy of
the sea's temperature is favourable to organic life. On land there is a
wide range in temperature, and only