The metazoan fauna of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic freshwaters is reviewed. Almost 400 species, notably rotifers, tardigrades and crustaceans have been identified. Sponges, molluscs, amphibians, reptiles and fishes are absent though salmonid fishes have been successfully introduced on some of the sub-Antarctic islands. Other alien introductions include insects (Chironomidae) and annelid worms (Oligochaeta). The fauna is predominately benthic in habitat and becomes increasingly depauperate at higher latitudes. Endemic species are known but only a few are widely distributed. Planktonic species are rare and only one parasitic species has been noted.

Seventeen species of rotifer (11 Monogononta and six Bdelloidea), three tardigrades, two arthropods, as well as prorozoans, a plathyhclminth and nematodes were found in 13 freshwater lakes in the Larscmann Hills.

Twenty rotifers (three Bdelloidea and 17 Monogononta, including new species of Encentrum and Notholca), a platyhelminrh, gasrrotrich, two nematodes, two tardigrades, one enchyrraeid worm, four cladoccrans, rwo copcpods and three species of mites were recovered from five small pools on Heard Island. The results indicate that the Heard Island fauna is closer to chat of Signy Island and Macquarie Island than to that of the much nearer Kerguelen archipelago.

. Freshwater collections fr om Heard Island yielded a fauna of protozoans, one species of platyhelminth, two species of tardigrades, at least four species of nemarodes, 16 species of rotifer (including two new species and four new records for the island), one species of enchytraeid worm, and nine species of arthropod (four anomopodans, two copepods and three mites). No ostracods were found, nor was any evidence of insects with aquatic or semi-aquatic larvae.

The Tasmanian seaman, Tasman Spaulding, served on the steam-powered wooden barque SY Terra Nova on her 1903-04 voyage to Ant arctica. Throughout his life he was beset by official incompetence. The records of his birth, death and marriage all contain mistakes, and a clerical error in 1904 char reversed his first and last names meant he could not be traced. Consequently he never received the bronze Polar Medal awarded for his service as an Able Seaman on the Terra Nova in 1903-04. The medal entitlement of three other crew members