AURORA AUSTRALIS.
examples of the animal kingdom. Small crawling spider-like beasts had been noted close below the glacier zone; since then larger forms had made their appearance, some of which looked distinctly formidable.
The biologist had an encounter with one of these large bodied, short-legged animals, and was generally regarded as lucky in securing the specimen without harm to himself. It measured a foot in length and was armed with vicious looking mandibles. Though not identical with anything we had ever seen before, it much resembled a giant Tick, and was pronounced as belonging to the mite family. The existence of these great ticks constituted a distinct element of danger, and precautions were taken to guard against possible injury from that quarter.
With this object in view, we were careful always in future to keep our ice axes within reach.
Our first camp on the plains was never to be forgotten: most of the time intended for sleep was spent in ridding ourselves of an almost microscopic species of mite, which infested our camping ground and invaded our persons. We learnt that a camp in comfort could be expected here only after taking the precaution to previously burn off the vegetation from the site. In this way obnoxious creatures were removed.
