Page:Polar Exploration - Bruce - 1911.djvu/152

148 better opportunities are being given to carry out their special work, has rather revealed the fact that such similarities which could support the theory of bipolarity do not occur. Nay, even this interesting fact seems to be brought out—that, to a large extent, the invertebrate fauna that inhabits one area of Antarctic seas is not the same as that which inhabits another. The invertebrate animals taken by the Belgians and the French to the west of Graham Land are markedly different in many respects from those taken by the Scots and the Swedes to the east of Graham Land. The English also obtained in the Ross Sea different species from those obtained by the Scots and Swedes, Belgians and French, or Germans.

Examination of the results of the deep-sea trawling shows that, although in shallow water quite a number of new species were obtained, forming but a small proportion of the whole number of animals collected, the list of deep-sea species shows that almost every animal obtained in deep waters and in high southern latitudes is new to science. These facts should give an indication of the scientific value from a zoological point of view of deep-sea exploration in the Antarctic Regions. Take any group whatever and it will be found that the greater portion of animals obtained in deep Antarctic waters are new to science.