to include at least 1 kg wet weight of each species ofmarine organism. They are to be analyzed for thekinds of individual chemicals present in each of thespecies, and a search will be made for possibly inter-esting marine-derived drugs.

Cooperative Systematic Studiesin Antarctic Biology

I. EUGENE WALLEN

Office of Oceanography and LimnologySmithsonian Institution

Since 1962, the NSF research vessel Eltanin hasmade 35 cruises into antarctic waters, generally usingnets, trawls, and dredges to sample the biota. Addi-tional collections have been taken by Hero, by Coast(;uard and Navy vessels, and occasionally by vessels ofoceanographic institutions. Collections, or parts ofthem, have also sometimes been made available toU.S scientists from foreign-flag vessels.

An active NSF support program for U.S. investiga-tors has resulted in significant research being accom-plished on the biology of many antarctic plants andanimals. However, an acute shortage existed of biolo-gists with the training and time to do good system-atics. An important accomplishment of NSF wouldbe to develop a biological resource evaluation of theAntarctic; however, such an evaluation is dependenton knowledge of the identities, populations, and dis-tributions of the antarctic biota. It appeared unlikelythat many of the taxa would be identified and studiedunless special attention were given to them. For thispurpose, the Smithsonian Institution agreed with NSFto arrange for service contracts with specialists tostudy and provide publishable reports on antarcticspecimens not under active study.

During the first 3 years of this specialist project,agreements have been reached with 12 scientists toproduce 16 manuscripts on groups of organisms.Manuscripts have been forwarded to the AntarcticResearch Series from Patricia Mather, Ryuzo Marumo,Robert Moreira, William A. Newman, Thomas E.Bowman, and George A. Schultz. Several other manu-scripts have been examined and are being revised forpresentation.

Publications have been completed or are under wayon antarctic gorgonaceans, diatoms, ascidians (2groups. benthic isopods, pelagic isopods, amphipods,holothurians. asteroideans (2 groups), barnacles (2groups. copepods (2 groups), aplacophorans, andlichens.

Through the Smithsonian Oceanographic SortingCenter, the archives of the National Museum of Na-

tural History and other museums, and the collectionsat several universities, there still exists a large series ofunworked taxa of antarctic organisms. Additional spec-imens being accumulated by current antarctic expe-ditions are also available.

Substantial numbers of specimens in several groupsnot committed for study are available from theSmithsonian Oceanographic Sorting Center. Quali-fied scientists are encouraged to make requests for thismaterial if it can he studied in sufficient depth toproduce good monographic papers. The followinggroups are available in sizable numbers:

Actinaria Mollusk eggsAntipathariaMysidaBryozoa PoriferaCladocera PyrosomidacCopepoda RadiolariaDoleodidae RhynchocoelaEchinoderm larvaeSalpidaeEuphausiaceaSessiliaGalatheidae TurbellariaHydroida Zoanthidea

A Handbook to theBirds of the Antarctic

GEORGE E. WATSON

National Museum of Natural HistorySmithsonian Institution

At present there exists no comprehensive guide orhandbook to the birds of the Antarctic. Researchscientists and travelers, who are invading the Ant-arctic in increasing numbers, have to rely on an out-dated field guide with poor illustrations, or severalregional guides of which no one covers all species. Tomeet this need, the Smithsonian Institution has un-dertaken production of a manuscript for a handbookon antarctic birds to be illustrated in color. J . PhillipAngle and Peter C. Harper have been collaboratorson the text.

The area covered includes the Antarctic Continentand Peninsula, all unequivocal antarctic islands southof the Convergence and 60°S., as well as Tristan daCunha, Gough, Marion, Crozet, Amsterdam, St. Paul,Kerguelen, and Macquarie Islands. Species regularlyoccurring in the area are covered as well as vagrants,but the land birds of Tristan and Gough are omitted.

Information on each regular species consists ofidentification, flight and habits, voice and display,food, reproduction, molt, parasites, predation andmortality , habitat, and distribution. Only identifica-tion characters and distribution documented by litera-ture citations are given for vagrant records. Refer-

196 ANTARCTIC JOURNAL

I

Author and artist discuss plates for the handbook of antarctic birds.

ences are included for each antarctic bird family rep-resented.

Research on distribution of the birds has resulted inpreparation of maps for 51 species to be published inthe Antarctic Map Folio Series. Roberto Schiatter,John Boyd, and W. L. N. Tickell have collaboratedon various maps.

A preliminary draft of the species accounts sectionof the handbook was sent last year to 30 specialists.On the basis of their comments, this 250-page sectionhas been revised and is now completed, and presentwork is centered on the introduction. Ten color platesillustrating 69 species have been completed by BobHines, who is currently working on black and whitesketches of the numerous vagrants. The manuscriptand illustrations, which should be finished early in1970, will be submitted for publication in the Ant-arctic Research Series.

Antarctic and Circum-AntarcticPalynological Contributions

Lucy M. CRANWELL(MRS. WATSON SmTII)

Geochronology Laboratory,School of Earth Sciences

University of Arizona

Assemblages froni the Snow Hill Island Series, theMcMurdo—Ross Sea matrices, and correlative se-quences of the South Chilean flysch have been thechief subject of study during the past year. The ant-arctic samples have yielded provocative evidence ofregional warmth and aridity through the recovery of

Sesame-type pollen belonging to the Pedaliaceae, afamily now restricted to hot, dry habitats from Africaand India to northernmost Australia. The climaticand latitudinal significance of these finds was ex-plored in a paper given at a meeting connected withthe SCAR Symposium held in Cambridge, England.in 1968. This paper will appear in Palaeoecology ofAfrica and Antarctica (ed. E. M. van ZinderenBakker).

Antarctica: Samples from both areas lack strati-graphic data; moreover, corrosion is prevalent, so thatsome of the most significant forms occur only as rarefragments. A few redeposited grains occur, all ofwhich appear to be Triassic. Deposition has clearlybeen in inshore or lagoon environments, as indicatedby Botryococcus and Pediastrum colonies and by highfrequencies of fern, conifer, and angiosperm micro-spores. Matrices from Snow Hill and Seymour Islandcontaining corals or the serpulid worm Rotularia cal-losa supplement Howarth's ammonite-based Campa-nian datings. Others promise exact datings foryounger Seymour Island material, which now appearto be Maastrichtian to Paleocene, rather than Oligo-cene or Miocene in age, as generally held.

The McMurdo erratic assemblages, coeval withthat of the Lena Dura (S. Chile), are characterizedby Cordosphaeridium diktyoplokus, C. filosum, Aiorafenestrata, and Deflandrea spp. I believe them to beof Upper Eocene age.

The pedaliaceous pollen more than any other seemsto lock West Antarctica most securely into Gondwanicunion with Madagascar and Australia in particular,at least as late as the Upper Cretaceous.

Circum-Antarctic: The most striking results ob-tained have been as follows:

I. A preliminary study of South Georgia peats, pro-vided by the British Antarctic Survey, has traced thehistory of Sphagnum moss and has shown that (a)endophytic "fly speck" fungi (Microthyriaceae)occur freely in grass-peat layers; (b) thin, volcanic

rb.....

Photomicrograph by L. M. CranwellBotryococcus colony from an Upper Cretaceous sediment, Snow

Hill Island.

September—October 1969 197