496 



Concluding Remarks. 



During the war the Danish Government found itself 

 compelled to sell to America our small, but beautiful Danish 

 West Indian Islands. In spite of the opposition of a large part 

 of the Danish people, and the protest, not only of many eminent 

 men of science, but also of many prominent commercial and naval 

 men, the Dannebrog, after having waved over the islands for 

 two and one half centuries, was lowered for ever in 1917. The 

 United States took over the islands in the year 1917, that is, long 

 before the publication of the later sections of this work, so the 

 title of these later sections is in this respect misleading. 



It was in 1892 that, I as a young man, visited our West Indian 

 Islands for the first time, and among otherthings began to collect and 

 examine the marine algae along the coasts of the islands encouraged 

 by Prof. WARMING 1 ) who just at that time visited the islands. 

 I, of course, chose these islands because they were Danish, and be- 

 cause I thought it our duty to study their nature. I little thought 

 to have the grief of seeing Denmark lose the islands; this has not 

 only been a personal loss, but also a considerable loss for the Danish 

 Natural Science. I want in this connection to mention the fact 

 which Dr. TH. MORTENSEN and 1 2 ) have already pointed out, 

 that the sea round the islands is full of incomparable treasures, 

 for the Zoologist especially, on account of the great depth of the 

 sea just off the coast, and the botanist will scarcely be able to 

 find a more diverse algal vegetation than the one which I have 

 found in the sound between St. Jan and St. Thomas and, in fact, 

 in all the adjoining waters of these islands. The sea has nearest 

 to them a depth of about 10 to 20 fathoms and a very rich vege- 

 tation consisting of the most interesting types of algee covers 

 the sea bottom. A biological station, near Cruz Bay, St. Jan, for 

 example would always be able to supply the students with the 



J ) Professor WARMING, who has always shown the greatest devotion to 

 the interests of his country, has continually emphasized the young bota- 

 nists' duty to investigate the distant parts of our kingdom. It was through 

 his initative that the botanical survey of the Faeroes was started, and 

 the "Botany of the Faeroes" was published as a result. And when this 

 survey was concluded, an investigation, on similar lines, of the botany 

 of Iceland was initiated, and as a result of this a couple of volumes 

 have already appeared. 



2 ) MORTENSEN, TH. og F. BORGESEN, En biologisk Station i Dansk Vest- 

 indien. ...Atlanten", vol. I, 1904, p. 89. 



