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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.
introduced every summer with the European ships, but rarely survive the winter. The arctic hare is common. The reindeer is now so rare in the vicinity of Disco Bay that few natives care to go hunting it. The seals are the main staple of the Esquimaux hunt. Large numbers are killed, both in summer and winter, but chiefly on the ice-fields during the latter season. The right-whale is now only a rare visitor. The white whale and the narwhal are often killed.
All the more common arctic birds visit Disco Bay in the summer, but, with the exception of the ptarmigan and some of the raptorial birds, they migrate during the winter. There are no reptiles in Greenland, but the salt-water fishes are numerous. Shark-fishing forms a considerable branch of industry. The kalleraglek, or small halibut, is caught in Disco Bay; among the Danes it forms a favorite dish, when sliced and dried. About six species of Salmo are found in Greenland. Both the trout and the salmon are excellent, though they have a thick layer of fat beneath the skin. The marine invertebrata are numerous. Insect-life is poor; a few butterflies are seen during the summer months; some Coleoptera a few Diptera, Hymenoptera, etc., go to make up the limited insect fauna of the region of Disco Bay.
- ↑ Extract from the opening address at the inauguration of Vanderbilt University, by Charles F. Deems, D.D., pastor of the Church of the Strangers, New York, October 4, 1875.