Possibly these unaccountable trout are the descendants of fish cut off from access to the sea, when the gradual rise of the continental level left lakes of originally salt water among the ranges. Where they are not without marine life (excepting those wonderful seaweeds which are found at the tropics as well as in the arctic), the waters round these shores contain many species of fish commonly known elsewhere, only in a much less developed state. Such creatures as sea anemones, shrimps, sea snails, small squid, and salt water centipedes, are to be found on the arctic beach. Naturalists enumerate a formidable list of the sort, bristling with scientific nomenclature. Then there are the mosquitoes, of which more anon, and small yellow, white and brown butterflies. It is indeed due to the comparatively rich fauna and flora of the arctic regions, both east and west, that arctic exploration has been carried out so frequently. The utter absence of plant or animal or human life in the dead antarctic has greatly militated against the success of southbound expeditions. To deal with the mosquitoes! These insects abound in the summer-time, and are a terrible pest. It is a puzzle how they survive the winter, when everything is frozen solid, and the very spots which thaw under the sudden warmth of an arctic spring and allow them to swarm out in their malignant millions are iron-bound as the rocks themselves for the greater part of the year. So formidable are these insects that man himself has sometimes fallen a victim to their onslaught. On one occasion, a polar bear was crossing a swamp on the prowl, when he was attacked by mosquitoes. They stung his eyes, the inside of his ears, penetrated his nostrils and stung them. As the nasal passages became inflamed and swollen, the bear was forced to open his mouth to breathe, when his enemies swarmed in, fastened on to tongue, palate and throat, causing them also to swell, until the tormented brute succumbed to suffocation. His howls attracted the attention of some Eskimo hunters, who afterwards told the tale. Another time, some women in a summer camp noticed a kyak (skin canoe) drifting about at sea in a curious way, and a man went off to investigate. On arriving within hail he found a body in the canoe, leaning back stone dead; done to death in precisely the same way by mosquitoes. Arctic birds are numerous. Most of them are migratory, but an eagle, a hawk, some owls and a raven, remain the year round. The most typical of all Arctic birds, the Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis), is the first to arrive and bring news of the spring. He comes about the same time as the Ptarmigan. Lastly comes the bird that always seems to greet the explorer on landing, the Purple Sandpiper (Tringa striata). He comes soon after the ducks—the Eider, the King Eider, the Pintail and the Harlequin. Between the two, there is a rapid vernal succession of birds, including sea pigeons and geese.