Part 71 (2/2)

(b) In Adelie Land, Hunter, a.s.sisted by Laseron, secured a large biological collection, notwithstanding the continuous bad weather.

Dredgings from depths down to fifty fathoms were made during the winter. The eggs of practically all the flying birds known along Antarctic sh.o.r.es were obtained, including those of the silver-grey petrel and the Antarctic petrel, which were not previously known; also a variety of prion, of an unrecorded species, together with its eggs.

(c) At the Western Base (Queen Mary Land) eggs of the Antarctic and other petrels were found, and a large rookery of Emperor penguins was located; the second on record. Harrisson, working under difficulties, succeeded in trapping some interesting fish on the bottom in two hundred and fifty fathoms of water.

2. s.h.i.+p Collections.

(a) A collection made by Mr. E. R. Waite, Curator of the Canterbury Museum, on the first Sub-Antarctic cruise.

(b) A collection made by Professor T. T. Flynn, of Hobart, on the second Sub-Antarctic cruise.

(c) A collection made by Hunter, a.s.sisted by Hamilton, in Antarctic waters during the summer of 1913-1914. This comprised deep-sea dredgings at eleven stations in depths down to one thousand eight hundred fathoms and regular tow-nettings, frequently serial, to depths of two hundred fathoms. Six specimens of the rare Ross seal were secured. A large collection of external and internal parasites was made from birds, seals and fish.

Geology

(a) A geological examination of Macquarie Island was made by Blake.

The older rocks were found to be all igneous. The Island has been overridden in comparatively recent times by an ice-cap travelling from west to east.

(b) Geological collections at the Main Base. In Adelie Land the rocky outcrops are metamorphic sediments and gneisses. In King George V Land there is a formation similar to the Beacon sandstones and dolerites of the Ross Sea, with which carbonaceous shales and coaly strata are a.s.sociated.

(c) Stillwell met with a great range of minerals and rocks in the terminal moraine near Winter Quarters, Adelie Land. Amongst them was red sandstone in abundance, suggesting that the Beacon sandstone formation extends also throughout Adelie Land but is hidden by the ice-cap. A solitary stony meteorite was found by a sledging party lying on the ice of the plateau.

(d) In the collections made by Watson and Hoadley at the Western Base (Queen Mary Land) gneisses and schists were ascertained to be the predominant types.

(e) A collection of erratics was brought up by the deep-sea trawl in the course of dredgings in Antarctic waters.

Glaciology

(a) Observations of the pack-ice, coastal glaciers and shelf-ice from the 'Aurora' during her three Antarctic cruises.

(b) Observations of the niveous and glacial features met with on the sledging journeys from both Antarctic bases.

Meteorology

(a) Two years' observations at Macquarie Island by Ainsworth

(b) Two years' observations in Adelie Land by Madigan.

(c) One year's observations in Queen Mary Land by Moyes.

(d) Observations by the s.h.i.+p on each of her five voyages.

(e) Observations during the many sledging journeys from both Antarctic Bases.

Bacteriology, etc.

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