SCIENTISTS AT WORK.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 66, 11 December 1907, Page 8

SCIENTISTS AT WORK.

NEW PEAK CLIMBED. •: (BY TELEQRAri!—riIESS ASSOCIATION.) Christcliiirch, December 10,; Shortly affcir, the. Antarctic exploring snip Nimrod arrived, some of .her officers set out on an excursion to Mount Cook. Dr. W. \A. Mitchell (the ship's , surgeon),. Dr. A. •F. Mackay (the surgeon to tho landing .party and ,a zoologist), and Mr. James Murray (tho, biologist to' the expedition) formed the party. Dr. Mackay has returned to Christchurch, but the other two have gone further south, .intending, if, they have time, to see the. Southern Lakes. • ' Dr. Mackay, who was seen by a. reporter, said that the party had enjoyed the holiday extremely. It was one of the pleasantept lie htid over .'experienced. They went to i'airlie, and set out on-foot.for Mount Cook. They had been t;old that the journey, would probably bo a cool. one, , but : it turned out very, hot;, and the combination of heavy roads, hot weather, .and.poor form-after the long voyage made them give up ; aft?r. reaching • Lako Tokapo, and the;re.st' of the. trip was dona in,the motor-service., . At Mount Cook the party'had a most enjoyable time. '-. Mr. .JMijrray occupied himself with somo biological research, and; was ■ successful in discovering, a number of forms of small life, twenty-four specios of Rotifera of the 1 ordor Bdolloida, .and ten Tardigrada, pr.-watpr-ljears,- wore •found.and :note,d by him. ' In both groups most of the species yet; found are known in' Scotland,' but a great many of the commonest 'Scotch npecies havQ. not, yet been soon in N(jw Zealand., A fe\vj,of the Rotifors ljave only previously been found in India, and one of tlio waterbearsl has only beon.' discovered in South Africa, while-one of the.Rotifora Mr. Murray bolipves to be new to science! As a great many "of-the. species have only recentlyTioon found in other lands, Mr, Murray believes it- to be -unlikely that they are yot on record as .New Zealand - ' ' . '. Dr; Mackay -spent his time in climbing, being an. enthusiastic,mountaineer. While in high altitudes he collected some mosses and ■ of • them • a few are suspected to. bo unique. He stated that in his; previous experience, although he-had done somo higher climbing and had ,-done a good Seal of "working over snow, he had never-gone over so much solid.ice before. He ana two guides ascended the "Nun's Veil." Tho party took a route up a gorgo, and found an easy route up, the.south-west side, but it was also found that thero was an apparently quite practicable route' up the side 'next the Hermitago. The -view from the - summit was very line, and "included a magnificent aspect of Mount Cook. Tho party took two days ovor tho trip, but Dr. Mackay said that the shorter route should enable tho climb to be done in ono long day. Tho holiday set thom up completely, and, instead of further troubling tlio motors, Dr.' Mackay and Dr. ,Mitchoirwalked'bank to Fairlic; -Tho . crqaturos discovered ' by Dr.. Murray have hitherto, easily escaped'.observation,bo--cause they -are only'visible, with a microscopo, and dwell in unconsidered ponds' of wator. Thoy are animals endowed with •powors of locomotion, and one of tho most striking characteristics of the, Rotifera is that tney may be dried, heated, or chilled without being killed,'and,' if put into water, will again come to life. . ■ '