INSULAR FLORAS. 383 



visited Jan Mayen, next to nothing was known of its botany. 

 A Norwegian expedition visited the island in 1877 and col- 

 lected the following plants : Ranunculus glacialis, Cerastium 

 arcticum, Draba corymbosa, Cochlearia grcenlandica, Halian- 

 thuspeploides, Saxifraga coespitosa, S. nivalis, S. oppositifolia, 

 S. rivularis, Oxyria digyna and Catabrosa algida. Dr. 

 Fischer, of the Austrian expedition (16), collected a consider- 

 able number of cellular cryptogams, and added the following 

 vascular plants to those enumerated above : Ranunculus 

 pygm&us, Cardamine bellidifolia, Draba alpina, Silene 

 acaulis, Saxifraga cernua, Taraxacum officinale, Mertensia 

 maritima, Salix hcrbacea, Koenigia islandica, Polygomim 

 viviparzim, Luzula arctiata, Poa alpina, P. flexuosa, Festuca 

 ovina, F. rubra, Cystopteris fragilis and Equisetum arvense ; 

 making a total of twenty-eight species. As only certain 

 localities were botanised, it may be that a few more species 

 yet remain undiscovered ; but there is no gainsaying the 

 extreme poverty of the flora, as compared to that of Spits- 

 bergen ; and all the species are of wide distribution. Some 

 of them are very rare in the island, or only represented by 

 scattered individuals. The five species of Saxifraga are 

 among the most generally dispersed plants, and Ranunculus 

 glacialis is the showiest of all. The last bedecks the Alps of 

 Europe as well as the arctic regions of the Old World and 

 America. Dr. Fischer made a collection of drift-woods, 

 which have been worked out (17) ; but I must be content 

 with advina- the reference. 



o o 



Since the appearance of Grcenlund's "Flora of Iceland" 

 in 1874 (18), in which he gave a sketch of the history of 

 botanical discovery in the island, there have been several 

 important contributions, notably one by himself (19) dealing 

 with the composition and general geographical distribution 

 of the elements of the flora. A critical examination of the 

 work of his predecessors led to a considerable reduction in 

 the total number of species believed to inhabit the islands ; 

 the result being 340 species of phanerogams, and 26 species 

 of vascular cryptogams. Not one species is peculiar, and 

 out of a total of 366 species, 360 are common to Scan- 

 dinavia proper. Fifty-nine natural orders are represented ; 



