During the last ten years there has been great activity in the sector of the Antarctic which lies south of the Indian Ocean. The work of various expeditions has sometimes been simultaneous, and owing to the fact that the areas visited have overlapped, more than one set of names have been published for the same features. An important advance towards the sorting out of the resulting confusion has been made by the Royal Geographical Society's new map entitled “The Course of Antarctic Exploration between Longitudes 20° W. and 110° E.” (Geographical Journal, xciv, No. 3, 1939, text pp. 204–8).

The Commonwealth Government has assigned the following limits in longitude to the “Lands” in the Australian Antarctic Territory: Enderby Land, 45°–55° E.; Kemp Land, 55°–60°E.; Mac-Robertson Land, 60°–73° E.; Princess Elizabeth Land, 73°–86° E.; Kaiser Wilhelm II Land, 86°–91° E.; Queen Mary Land, 91°–102° E.; and Wilkes Land, 102°–136° E.

To the student of Antarctic history the details of its discovery, and of the early voyages along its shores, are matters of great interest and are now coming under critical review. The area over which there is most difference of opinion is that part of Antarctica which projects as a great peninsula, Graham Land, to the south of South America. It is this sector which forms the subject of a recent memoir by Professor William Herbert Hobbs of Ann Arbor, Michigan, followed by a detailed review of that work by A. R. H. Professor Hobbs's memoir is entitled “The Discoveries of Antarctica within the American Sector as revealed by Maps and Documents” (Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. Philadelphia, New Series, xxxi, 1939, pp. 1–71), while A. R. H.'s review appears under the heading “On Some Misrepresentations of Antarctic History” (Geographical Journal, xciv, 1939, pp. 309–30). For complete understanding of the disputed facts concentrated effort is required in the reading of both authors. That A. R. H. in his review should find it necessary to state that the author of the memoir “denounces as forgeries what are most evidently genuine documents, with no further proof than his own falsification of the photograph he obtained from Cornwall House”, shows the need for the student of Antarctic history not to limit his reading to one only of the two writers.

According to a note by Allan Crawford (Geographical Journal, xciv, p. 412) H.M.S. Milford called at Gough Island in the Southern Ocean at the end of March 1938. Following instructions from the Colonial Office, the captain landed with a party to hoist the Union Jack and declare this island a dependency of St Helena. Discovered in the sixteenth century by the Portuguese, and named by them Diego Alvarez, it seems to have been lost sight of until, in 1731, Captain Gough, homeward bound in his ship Richmond round the Cape of Good Hope, sighted an island in the South Atlantic, which henceforth went by his name. It was only slowly that geographers came to the conclusion that Diego Alvarez and Gough were one and the same island, and then the former name gradually disappeared from charts. Gough Island has been claimed as British territory since Captain Gough reported it.

Frank Wild's death must have been the first thought of Antarctic men meeting each other this winter. Apart from the leaders, no other Antarctic figure has so impressed himself on so many of the rank and file as Wild; for he had been a member of no less than five great expeditions, second in command on the later ones, but on all, whether in high position or not, acting as the guide and instructor to those new to Antarctic work.

The most striking feature of the pelagic operations in the season 1938–39 was the great decline in the catch in spite of the employment of three factory ships and twenty-six catchers more than in the previous season.

The Polar Record, No. 17, January 1939

Page 1, line 17. For February 5 read February 16.

line 18. For six days read one month.

[The date given for Bellinghausen's sighting of the Antarctic Continent was given from the “old style” calendar to which must be added eleven days to make it correspond with our Gregorian Calendar, the “new style”.]

Page 2, line 17. For Berlinske read Berlingske.

The public's knowledge of the fur trade in Canada is necessarily slight. The fur trade is conducted in remote districts; there is nothing sensational about it, and it is not much given to talking about itself. Consequently there are many misconceptions about its present state. Some probably imagine that it is still a matter of trapping at will in any district and always finding an abundance of fur. Others believe that the advance of civilisation and excessive trapping have almost entirely destroyed the animal population, and that furs are becoming dangerously scarce. The truth, as so often happens, lies midway between the two extremes, and this article will attempt briefly to explain the salient points of the situation to-day.

The technique of landing a party in the centre of a totally unmapped area and working from an aeroplane-stocked base has been developed largely by Bradford Washburn in Alaska. In the Alpine Journal for November 1939, p. 213, he makes some interesting remarks in this connection.