the rocky heights of Koldewey Island, at the foot of which we had put up the tent for the purpose of surveying. These rocks consisted of Dolerite, over-spread with a close network of Lichens (_Cetraria nivalis_) and in the clefts we found _Silene acaulis_. 7. From the summit of this island we suddenly beheld, in the field of view of the telescope of the theodolite, a bear, which had seized Torossy and severely wounded him. But almost immediately again the bear disappeared in the snow, and when we came to the place of his disappearance, we discovered the winter retreat of a family of bears. It was a cavity hollowed out in a mass of snow lying under a rocky wall. The bear had shown herself only once, but resisted all our efforts to seduce her to leave the shelter she had chosen, nor had we any special desire to creep on all fours into the narrow dark habitation. Sumbu only was bold enough to follow her, but he too saw things which led him to return very quickly. From the snow which had been thrown up at the entrance of this hole, we inferred that this had been the work of the bear in her efforts to close the approach to her abode. It was the first time that we came upon a family of bears in their winter quarters, or had the chance of adding anything to our scanty knowledge as to the winter sleep of those animals. Middendorff does not admit that they sleep during the winter; he considers the bear far too lean to be able to do so. According to Dr. Richardson it is only pregnant females who hibernate in a snow-hole, while the males roam over the Arctic seas in search of places free from ice. [Illustration: THE WINTER HOLE OF A BEAR.]