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Show 1897.] NON-MARINE FAUNA OF SPITSBERGEN. 785 of Mosses in the neighbourhood of Advent Bay, Ice Fiord, which he very kindly allowed me to examine for microscopic organisms. Contrary to what might have been anticipated perhaps, it was found that these mosses harboured a very considerable fauna and flora, and as very little information has hitherto been available relating to the land-fauna of Spitsbergen, it has been thought desirable to bring together in the present paper the notes made during the examination, notwithstanding the fact that the different groups of organisms have been very unequally studied. So far as concerns the essentially microscopic forms, we owe the earliest contribution on the subject to Dr. A. von Goes, who in 1862 published a short note (" O m Tardigrader, Anguilluke m.m. M n Spetsbergen," Oliver. K. Vet.-Akad. Forh. 1862, p. 18), in which he recorded the occurrence of 1 Tardigrade, 4 Nematoids, 2 Botifers, and about 50 kinds of Diatoms, in mosses from Spitsbergen. But we are mainly indebted for the little already known to that indefatigable worker and prince of microscopists, C. G. Ehrenberg, who, in 1874, published a paper on " Das unsichtbar wirkende Leben der Nord-polarzone" (Die zweite deutsche Nord-polarfahrt in 1869-70, Band ii. Leipzig, pp. 437- 467, 4 Plates), in which it is recorded that during the first German Polar Expedition in 1867 some mosses and moss-like plants were collected from Spitsbergen, and that these were found to contain, when examined in 1869, nearly a score of species of microscopic animals and plants, viz., 5 Diatoms, 2 (possibly 3) Bhizopods, 6 Infusorians, 2 Nematoids, 1 Botifer (and the egg of another), and 1 Mite. Further allusion will be made to some of these under the different groups to which they belong. So far as I have been able to ascertain, nothing else has been published in connection with the smaller non-marine forms, but there exist papers or at least notes on Acaroids from Spitsbergen, by T. Thorell (" O m Arachnider Iran Spetsbergen och Beeren-Eiland," Ofversigt af Kongl. Vetenskaps-Akad. Forhandlingar 1871, Stockholm, pp. 683-701), aud by E. Trouessart (" Note sur les Acariens recueillis au Spitzberg &c," Nouvelles Archives des missions scientitiques, v., Paris 1893, p. 255); on Entomostraca (Apus glacialis only) by Lilljeborg; and on Insects by Malmgren, Holmgren, and many others. The mosses brought home by Dr. Gregory represented fourteen different collections, thirteen of which were simply enclosed in tin boxes, whilst the remaining collection, which also contained algae, was preserved in spirit. The mosses comprised many different species, and Mr. W. E. Nicholson of Lewes, who very kindly examined specimens of the commoner forms, was able to identify the following :-Aulacomnlum turgldum, Cgnodontlum wahlenbergll, Hypnum trifarium, H. stellatum, H. unclnatum, Polytrichum junlper- Inum and P. sexangulare. Strangely enough there was no Sphagnum, and in fact Dr. Gregory tells m e that this moss is comparatively scarce and local in Spitsbergen. As regards condition, the mosses were very varied, some being wet and clean, others drier and loaded |
