2(1 



Nr. 3. C. H. Ostenfeld; 



V. Phyto-geographical Districts, and Distribution of the 

 Species into Phyto-geographical Groups. 



in llu' two jMTvious sectioiis, 1 liavo endeavoiired to 

 show il as likrly llial. in tlio first j)la(H\ part of Iho lloia 

 of Greenland lias survived tlie maxinuim ol the glacial period 

 in the country itself, though prohably for the most part in its 

 southern portions; and further, thai anolher part of the Ilora 

 must liave been introduced by human agcncy during the oc- 

 cujiation of the country by the Xorsemen in Ihe Middle 

 Ages. The remainder — the greater j)arl — of the Ilora must 

 be presumed to have immigrated by the aid of Nature 

 since the glacial period. The manner in which this immi- 

 gration tool< place will be subjected to investigation in 

 the following pages, but since it is, as already noted, 

 imj)ossibIe to distinguish with certainty the species of the 

 glacial element, and as, moreover, any definition of the 

 "Norse" element must necessarily be arbitrary in ilscll, I 

 consider it most imparlial to include all the 390 species 

 of Greenland in the following observations. Special atten- 

 tion will, however, be drawn to those species which should 

 presumably be reckoned as belonging to the Norse element, 

 as well as those which I consider glacial. 



As already mentioned, it becomes nccessary to divide 

 this great country into dilTerent sections, or districts, from 

 norlh to south, both on the east and the west coast. Il is 

 of course more or less a matter of individual judgement, 

 how niany divisions are to be made: to my mind, however, 

 our knowledge of the distribution of species is not sul- 

 licienlly detailed to warrant subdivision into smaller sec- 

 lions Ihan Ihosc I ha\e made use oi, where Ihe size of 

 each district varies from a little over one to abt. live degrees 

 of latilude. The a[)proximate boundaries of the districts, 



