The Crustacea collected have been carefully examined and named by Mr. E.J. Miers (Appendix, pp. 240–255), assisted by the Rev. A.M. Norman and Dr. George Brady, and figures are given of some of the more noteworthy species.
In the same way, the Annelids have been worked out by Dr. M'Intosh ; the Echinoderms by Prof. Duncan and Mr. W.P. Sladen ; the Polyzoa by Prof. Busk ; the Hydrozoa by Prof. Allman ; the Spongidae by Mr. H.J. Carter; and the Rhizopoda by Mr. H.B. Brady.
The botanical collections, from lat.80°–83°, of which Sir Joseph Hooker has given an account (Appendix, pp. 301–326), prove that the vegetation of this meridian of the Polar area is entirely Greenlandic, showing no further relationship than does Greenland itself to the floras of the American Polar islands to the west of it, and of Spitsbergen to the east of it. In other words, it possesses Greenland plants that are wanting in either or in both of these localities, and wants plants that either or both of those regions possess, but which are absent in Greenland. No fewer than sixty- nine identifiable flowering plants and ferns, and half-a-dozen more in too imperfect a condition to be named accurately, have been been brought by the Expedition from the latitudes above men- tioned; besides nearly as many more from the Greenland coast south of it.
Capt. Feilden's remarks on the geological structure of the coasts of Grinnell Land and Mall Basin occupy a considerable number of pages (pp. 327–345), and will repay attentive perusal.
If the main object of this Expedition was not attained, it cannot be said that the explorers were less successful than any of their predecessors. In the words of Admiral Richards, "The bold and skilful seamanship which carried the ships to the extreme limit of navigation, and placed the 'Alert' alone in a position in which no ship before had ever passed an Arctic winter, was worthy of the leader, and an earnest of what would have been accomplished had it been in man's power to command success. The subsequent deeds of the officers and crews, under circumstances of trial and suffering which have rarely been equalled, have never been surpassed."
If our knowledge of polar geography has not been greatly enlarged by this the latest exploration, the scientific results of the Expedition have been considerable; and the statistics now
