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The rocks from Dronning Maud Land, collected by T. LUNDE along 72° S and between 3° W and 7° E are mostly ordinary gneisses. However, a black, basaltic rock, apparently belonging to a sil! or a dyke has been found on Jutulsessen. The rock is lacking feidspar and consists only of augite, olivine, devitrified glass, and accessories. The chemical composition of the rock, mode and norm are given in table I. The present investigation shows that the Antarctic limburgite seems to be related to the normal olivine basalts, and not to the derivates of the basanite series.

On the coastal slope of the great inland ice of Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, a number of mountain peaks rises above the ice cap. The central part of the nunatak area consists of very coarse­ grained hornblende-biotite granite, poor in quartz and rich in porphyroblastic microcline crystals. It is cut by foliated or banded gneisses consisting essentially of the same minerals. The granite clearly intersects the gneiss, and both are cut by more fine-grained granite veins as well as by pegmatite. In some places the gneiss contains red garnet crystals, hut with one possible exception it is not proper chamockite.

I «Informasjons-bulletin for den sovjetiske Antarktisekspedisjon», nr. 13, (1959) har G. A. SOLJANIK publisert en liten artikkel om fuglelivet på Bouvetøya. Da forfatteren har vært i land nær Kapp Circumcision hvor det tidligere, så vidt jeg kan bringe i erfaring, ikke har vært foretatt noen landing, kan det kanskje være av interesse å referere noen av de opplysningene han kommer med, ikke minst da det på en interessant måte utvider vårt kjennskap til fuglefaunaen på denne ugjestmilde øya.

Age determinations made by Belgian, Japanese and Soviet-Russian scientists on rocks from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica are referred. These age determinations, done by different methods all indicate an age of about 500 million years for the last orogeny in this area, a result already expected on bases of geological evidence from other areas.

At present c. 15 mill. km• of the earth's surface is covered with ice. Of this area about 85 % falls to the account of Antarctica, 11 % to Greenland and c. 4 % to other areas. From this it is evident that a good knowledge of the ice mass of Antarctica is a deciding factor for the calculation of the total ice volume on earth and its effect on eustatic changes.

Maudheim, the base of the Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition, 1949-52, (71° 02' S, 10° 56' W) was revisited in January 1960 by the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition, 1956-60 under the leadership of SIGURD HELLF.. HELLE has very kindly made his observations available to me and has read the manuscript of this note. The work of his party gives a reliable measure of the accumulation of snow at Maudheim from 1952 to 1960 and allows a hetter estimate of the bottom melting on the ice shelf than was possible from the 1950-52 measurements. Air photographs taken in December 1958 by B. LuNCKE show the extent of changes in the ice front since 1951.

We have measured the cooling power at Norway Station (70°.5 S, 2°.5 W)with kata-thermometers for air-temperature (Ta) between + 1 and --41° C, and for wind speeds (v) at 10 m leve! up to 27 m sec-1• The linear proportionality of the cooling power (H) to (36.5-Ta), for a constant wind speed, is shown to hold in this temperature-interval for a wind speed less than about 12 m sec-1• We used four kata-thermometers, and it turned out that they gave systematic different values of the cooling power for equal meteorological conditions. Comparing the individual values with their mean we find a maximum deviation of about ± 20 % . W e have supposed that this is due to errors in the calibration, subjective errors plus dissimilarities in the shape of the bulbs. The latter will cause differences in the turbulence around the bulbs, and consequently in the effective cooling of the wind. The possible difference in the cooling power of the air due to differences in the shape will probably not emerge during calibrations in a still air chamber. In spite of the dissimilar climatic conditions in Antarctica and Europe we found that a formula based upon two of our Katas, with which we have taken by far the most measurements, corresponds fairly well to the mean of the Kata-formulae found in Europe. The maximum deviation of the values given by European formulae from those derived by the Norway Station formula is about ± 20 %. We have here omitted the formula of HILL (1919), as it reveals a fairly large deviation from the other formulae.

Naked man in his mode of heat regulation can be regarded as a tropical or subtropical creature with a narrow zone of adaptability, and the difference in the BMR determined in the tropics and in a temperate zone for the same individuals does not seem to exceed 10 per cent. In the climatic extremes he raises his calorific output in situations of stress but does not adapt by further changing his BMR. Some native people, however, appear to have the ability to endure a moderate cold stress without increasing their heat production above normal basal values. The metabolic determinations made by the author on the Norwegian—British–Swedish Expedition during 2 years of continuous exposure to the Antarctic climate show that there is no difference in the mean level of the BMR of white man whether he lives in a temperate or a polar climate. Other studies in cold regions support this view. Evidence of acclimatization of man to cold will not be found in the basal metabolic rate. However, the author's investigations show that the polar climate in its extreme form, as it is encountered by man in the Antarctic, can impose certain seasonal variations in the BMR. This periodicity in BMR is probably not a direct effect of climate on metabolism, but is related to it by reason of the typical activity pattern which ensues in the Antarctic climate. In agreement are the seasonal changes in BMR in the Arctic reported by Russian workers. The preliminary results of Lewis and Masterton in North Greenland, on the other hand, do not indicate a consistent seasonal variation. In changing from a temperate to a tropical climate, the BMR may vary within a narrow range of about 10 per cent, decreasing in the hot environment, but not all persons will show such a change. The seasonal variation found by the author in a polar climate is almost of the same order as the change in the tropics. It may be that the alterations in BMR caused by a change to a tropical climate are due to similar influences, which, however, do not exhibit the same seasonal incidence, because of the uniformity of the climate the year around. This implies that the basal metabolism of white man is essentially the same in all climates, but varies within a narrow range, not as a direct result of climate itself or its mean temperature, but depending upon changes in the type of activity, food, exposure, muscle tone and other factors, which are imposed by a difference in climate and regimen.