Nr. '.i. C. H. Ostkmki.d; 



however, especially for tlie niicroscoiiical loiins — the 

 iiiajority — , altogether uncertain, and at aiiy rate purely 

 miniiual valnes. 



SUM less is known as to the eryptogams in the sur- 

 roundiiii^ couiitries; the greater part of the rnornious Arctic- 

 Ainerican Archipelago for instance is very litllc exj)lorc(l 

 in Ihis lespect. It wouhl, therefore, he a matter of con- 

 siderable difficulty to attenipt any comparison between the 

 eryptoganis of Greenhuid and those of adjacent teriitories 

 on the west and east. 



It woiild he useless, then, to [)ut forward any phyto- 

 geographical observations on the basis of the ilora as a 

 whole; it must suffice to take the phanerogams and pterido- 

 phytes, vvhich, as being the more conspicuous forms, are 

 also collected by travellers other than professional collectors. 



The distribution of these piants in the different areas 

 along the vast extent of Greenland's coast is now also, I 

 think, fairly well known in the main; and \ve are hardly 

 likely to lind great alterations in the distribution of species 

 as at present known in Greenland, anj' more than vve should 

 look for a noteworthy increase in their number. 



Having for some years past been occupied in dealing 

 with collections brought home by the above mentioned — 

 and other — expeditions to Greenland, I think the time 

 has now come for a critical survey of the distribution of 

 the species throughout tlio whole country, willi a view to 

 arriving at an understanding of the origin of tlie Ilora — 

 only, however, so far as concerns the phanerogams and 

 pteridophytes, 



A critical eslimate ol the Ilora of Greenland is in many 

 "ways a difficult matler, and nceessarily also to some extent 

 a matter of judgement. The most conspicuous difficulty lies 



