3 i6 NOTES AND COMMENTS [November 



Beeren Eiland. 



The Swedish Arctic Expedition of 1898, under the leadership of Prof. 

 A. G. Nathorst, spent a week on Beeren Eiland, mapped it on a scale 

 of 1 : 50,000, and made numerous observations on its natural history. 

 Chief among these were the geological researches which proved a 

 prehistoric local glaciation, and by means of fossils showed the presence 

 of rocks of three systems : Silurian, Middle Carboniferous, and Trias, 

 previously unknown on the island. These discoveries led to another 

 expedition to Beeren Eiland during the past summer. The expenses 

 were borne by the Vega Stipend of the Swedish Geographical Society, 

 the Lars Hierta Memorial Fund, and various private individuals. The 

 leader was the geologist, J. Gunnar Andersson of Upsala, who had 

 accompanied Prof. Nathorst ; the other scientific members were C. A. 

 Forsberg, cartographer and meteorologist, and G. Swenander, zoologist 

 and botanist. The expedition stayed on Beeren Eiland from June 

 23 to August 19, and accomplished the following work: — 



The whole island was mapped in greater detail, and a special map, 

 on a scale of 1:5000, was made of Eysshamn, where the expedition 

 had its headquarters. 



From June 25 to August 16 complete meteorological observa- 

 tions were taken twice a clay, as well as continuous observations by a 

 self-registering barometer and thermometer. Eight series of observa- 

 tions were made on the tides, each series extending over from 8 to 5 1 

 hours, during which time the height of the water at intervals of half 

 an hour was marked off on a section. 



The botanist collected all the phanerogams previously found on the 

 island as well as Koenigia islandica, hitherto unrecorded. Exhaustive 

 collections were also made of the lower plants, including the algae of 

 red and green snow. To investigate the influence on plant-growth of 

 the continuous light of an Arctic summer, three series of cultivation 

 experiments were carried out as follows : — First, in five places of 

 nearly the same longitude, but at a distance of about 3 or 4 degrees of 

 latitude from one another — namely, Svalof in Scania, Ultima near 

 Upsala, Lule&, Tromso, and Beeren Eiland — barley taken from the 

 same sample was grown in soil from the same place. Only the 

 climatic conditions, and especially those of light, were different in the 

 different stations ; thus there were completely dark nights in Scania, 

 complete light the whole 24 hours on Beeren Eiland, with intermediate 

 conditions at the intervening places. The material from the Scandi- 

 navian stations has not yet been brought in, so that the results of this 

 interesting experiment are still awaited. Secondly, on open land at 

 the Beeren Eiland station there were cultivated two precisely similar 

 series of Arctic plants, of which one series stood in continual light, 

 while the other was kept in complete darkness each night (8 p.m. to 



