Gardner writes: " That the musk -ox is not the only animal to be
found where
we should hardly expect it, is evident from a note in Hayes' diary.
When he
was in latitude 78*, 17 minutes, early in July, he said: ' I secured a
yellow-winged butterfly, and- who would believe it- a mosquito. And
also ten
moths, three spiders, two bees and two flies.'"
Since these insects are not found further South, a land of ice and
snow, the
only explanation Garner could offer for their origin is that they
came from
the interior of the Earth through the polar opening.
...
Greely reports birds of an unknown species, butterflies, flies and
temperatures of 47* to 50*, also plenty of willow to make fires, and
much
fresh driftwood. He found two flowers different from any that he had
ever
seen.