The archipelago of Spitsbergen, Bear Island and some adjacent islands, which are collectively named Svalbard, is situated between 74° and 81° N. Lat. and 10° and 35° E. Long. The area is 62,000 sq. km.

Spitsbergen is a mountainous country, in some parts much ice-covered, indented on the west side by many fjords affording good harbours. The coal-bearing areas are relatively ice-free. The northern part of Bear Island is a plain 30–50 m. above sea-level. The southern part consists of mountains more than 500 m. high. The island is lacking in good harbours.

This paper is the fourth to be published of a number of projected papers, each covering a major zoogeographical region of the world. For the Palearctic region see Boswall (1964, 1966 and 1969); for Australasia see Boswall (1965) and for the Ethiopian region see Boswall and North (1967). Nearctic, Neotropical and Oriental papers are in preparation.

The pagination in the 1000 separate copies of SCAR Bulletin No 92 is incorrect. The numbers on the top of each page should range from 678 to 702, and on the bottom from [741] to \765].

Sagediopsis bayozturkii, a lichenicolous fungus growing on Antarctic endemic species Acarospora macrocyclos, is described as new to science from three collections made at 65° south in the Argentine Islands (Graham Land, maritime Antarctica). The fungus has a distinct internal apical beak in the ascus and ellipsoid three-septate ascospores; therefore, it is the member of Sagediopsis subgenus Hawksworthiella. Morphologically and anatomically S. bayozturkii is most similar to S. campsteriana and S. pertusariicola, which are confined to the lichen hosts Ochrolechia spp. and Pertusaria spp., respectively. In addition to having different hosts, S. bayozturkii differs from these two species by having smaller ascomata and shorter ascospores. Its similarities to other species of the genus are discussed, and an artificial key based on the published descriptions of the ten species now known in the genus Sagediopsis is presented.

The radiation hazards to humans in certain northern regions, and to reindeer, caribou and moose, due to radioactive materials from fallout in their diets, have been discussed recently in numerous publications. The following factors make this problem of particular interest:

i. The peculiarity of lichens to absorb and retain larger quantities of radioactive fallout than other plants. This peculiarity of lichens is exemplified by some measurements of Paakkiola and Miettinen made during 1960 and 1961. They found that the strontium-90 content of lichens in northern Finland varied between 350 and 4500 SU, whereas for grass and other plants from the same area the figures varied between 43 and 273 SU.

In 1911 the Northern Party of Robert Falcon Scott's British Antarctic expedition (1910–1913), built a wooden hut at Cape Adare, a locality notorious for gusting, high-velocity winds. During the expedition, the hut suffered superficial damage from 18 storms estimated at force 11–12 on the Beaufort scale. Since then, storms during the intervening 84 years have virtually destroyed the hut. This paper outlines the wind and storm events recorded at Cape Adare and suggests that the topography of the Adare Peninsula forces the strong southeast wind to change to an eastsoutheast wind only on meeting high ground. By the time it reaches Ridley Beach, it assumes the character of a highvelocity katabatic wind. It is suggested that at Cape Adare topographically reinforced winds are largely responsible for the destruction of the historic hut. The reasons for this and a possible history of hut destruction is given.

Scientific programmes in Antarctica have depended for their fulfilment on small groups of men working in conditions of prolonged social isolation in an alien physical environment. This is true of both early and recent phases of exploration: despite massive advances in technology and, hence, in material comforts and communications over the period, the element of prolonged social isolation remains as a dominant psychological problem. Contrary to the popular image of lonely living conditions and heroic tasks, the Antarctic worker has to cope with the very opposite of loneliness, and his tasks are likely to be mundane and routine. In his work he must adapt to a close, and closed, interpersonal world, and it is with this adaptation that the present article is concerned.

There has been some uncertainty as to which of the two southerly probes, during which Bellingshausen passed latitude 69°S in early 1820, achieved the first sighting of an ice coast of Dronning Maud Land in Eastern Antarctica. The author criticizes Frank Debenham’s English translation of Bellingshausen’s narrative before presenting and discussing new translations of Bellingshausen’s descriptions of those events, with relevant sections of his track chart, plus a third passage from the book which interpreted what was seen. He concludes that the Russians first sighted an ice coast in mid-February, rather than late January as has been widely claimed.

Indigenous peoples have emerged as active participants in international relations. They claim the right to participation and to consultation in international political decision-making and to represent their interests based on principles of self-determination. Indigenous peoples' organizations in the Arctic have been in the forefront of the political mobilization of indigenous peoples in different international forums. The aim of the INDIPO project is to study the dynamics of interactions between states, international organizations, and indigenous peoples. This research project draws on theories and practices in international politics and international law in order to analyse how ‘indigenousness’ is used politically as a claim to self-determination and sovereignty in the international system and what the political consequences of this claim will be. The research objective consists in seeking answers to two interrelated questions. Firstly, how relations between states, international organizations and indigenous peoples have been and are currently constructed as legal and political practices? Secondly, how indigenous peoples, through different strategies, construct political agencies to further their political interest? The research project advances knowledge about the construction of the political agency of indigenous peoples and their participation in international policy-making. The researchers seek to establish a constructive dialogue with the representatives of major stakeholders and to organise two workshops with them in order to discuss the objectives and results of the project. The first one was held in Inari, Finland in January 2006.

Fishing is a key livelihood for many people worldwide, and significantly contributes to global nutrition. However, there is an awareness of a widespread crisis in fisheries with profound ecological, social and cultural impacts (Urquhart and others 2013). The majority of people dependent on fishing are involved in small-scale fisheries, which stands in contrast to the narrow focus of most fishery science and policy on large-scale, capital intensive fishing (Berkes and others 2001). Small-scale fisheries require different approaches for research, policy and management, due to their specific technological, economic and sociocultural characteristics that differ from those of large-scale fisheries, as well as a large degree of internal diversity in terms of fish stocks, fishers’ backgrounds, vessel capacity, etc (see Afterword of this collection of papers).

As the axis powers were denied access to data from international weather stations under allied control, soon after the outbreak of World War II Germany had to establish her own network of manned and automatic weather stations throughout the north Atlantic. These operations were primarily run by the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe. In Greenland, several manned weather stations were established by the former. The two most successful of those were Holzauge and Bassgeiger in Northeast Greenland, each in operation for almost an entire year in 1942–1943 and 1943–1944 respectively. The allied forces, in return, had established the North-East Greenland Sledge Patrol in 1941, in order to defend the Northeast Greenland coast against German activities. In 2007 and 2008, archaeologists and historians from the National Museum of Denmark investigated the remains of the allied station at Eskimonæs on Clavering Ø (Clavering Island) and the German station Holzauge at Hansa Bugt on Sabine Ø (Sabine Island).

On 4 December 1835, thirty-four Hull shipowners sent to the Admiralty a Memorial statingthat, on 11 October, eleven whaling ships had been left by the Alfred, Hull, closely besetin Davis Strait between lats. 69° N. and 70° N., and longs. 60° W. and65° W., frozen in by the early approach of winter. It was stated that there waslittle prospect of their speedy liberation. The crews numbered upwards of 600 souls. Thevalue of the vessels was estimated at no less than £59,000 excluding the value of oiland whalebone worth £13,500. The ships were as follows: