Bd. IV: 12) THE VEGETATION IN SOUTH GEORGIA. 7 



there is no doubt as to the close affinity of those islands with Tierra del Fuego; 

 thus one would want to see the difference between the Falklands and, for exemple, 

 Spitzbergen expressed in the spectrum also: 



F. Ch. H. K. Th. Number of species. 



Falkland Islands 3 28 50 8 9 117 



Spitzbergen 1 22 60 15 2 no 



The difference is not very great; and I believe that the Th-percentage in the 

 first case is too high. 



Is it, then, not possible, that Raunkiaer's type Chamaephyte is composed of 

 too many different elements, that it is less naturally limited than are his Hemicrypto- 

 phytes or especially Cryptophytes? I am inclined to believe that the Boreal Cha- 

 maephyte-climate is more like the Boreal Hemicryptophyte-climate than the Austral 

 Chamaephyte-climate, and that in the last-mentioned Chamaephytes dominate more than 

 in the Arctic zone. If we look at Raunkiaer's Table I, p. 11, we see that near the 

 southern limit of the Ch-zone, the relation between Ch and H is the same as in the 

 "normal spectrum" (1 : 3), and for the Arctic zone, taken as a whole (Table 2, p. 12) 

 the relation is 1 : 3.4. In another paper I shall try to show that there is another 

 relation between Ch and H in the subantarctic zone. In table 13, p. 23, it is 1 : 2.5, 

 but Ral'NKIAER obtained his figures from very insufficient material; besides, it is cha- 

 racteristic of this zone that a number of plants, which one à priori would be inclined 

 to class as H — only lists or dried specimens being awailable — really behave like Ch. 



Below I have tried to give the growth-forms for South Georgia. 



Aira antarctica H, Phleum alpinum H, Festuca erecta Ch, Poa flabellata Ch, 

 Rostkovia magellanica H, Juncus inconspicuus and scheuchzerioides H, Montia rivu- 

 laris *lamprosperma Th (or HH), Colobanthus subulatus and crassifolius Ch, Ranun- 

 culus biternatus H, Acaena adscendens and tenera Ch, Callitriche antarctica HH, 

 Galium antarcticum Ch =15. 



Thus we get 47 % Ch, 40 % H, 7 % C, 7 % Th. However, Ranunculus biternatus 

 may endure winter as a Ch and Montia often perennetes and could as well be 

 styled as HH. Now, it must not be forgotten that the flora of South Georgia is so 

 very barren of species and that, if the circumstances connected with the dispersal of 

 plants over the subantarctic islands had been more favourable, quite a number of 

 species would grow in South Georgia that never reached this remote place. 



