PREFACE. 



WITH the third volume, the present work on the Botany of the 

 Færoes is brought to an end. I had originally hoped thai 

 the work wouid have been completed three years ago; but more 

 time than was expected had to be expended upon the last volume. 

 There is, of course, in the vegetation of the Færoes, much 

 which still requires investigation and deeper consideration; and 

 this is more particularly the case in connection with the lower 

 piants and the plant-biology. But these matters must be left for 

 future research, because other more pressing tasks, notably the 

 botanical investigation of Iceland, are now claiming the attention 

 of Danish botanists. It is well known that Danish investigations 

 have been cairied on in Greenland for a number of consecutive 

 years, and they will be continued; reference can be made to the 

 standard work, the series Meddelelser om Grønland, published 

 by the Commission appointed for the Geographical and Geological 

 Investigation of Greenland, in which will be found all the Danish 

 investigations made since 1876. The Danish West Indies, also, are 

 being botanically investigated with great energy (see especially 

 Botanisk Tidsskrift, published by the Danish Botanical Society). 

 But among the dependencies and colonies of Denmark, Iceland is 

 the one with regard to which botanical investigation is least ad- 

 vanced; and it is the one which, owing also to its situation be- 

 tween Greenland and the Færoes, will now present the most 



