812 



Ihey do nol seem to flow in any direction favourable lo Ihe immi- 

 gration. As poinled out by Ostenfeld (64, p. 115) a broad arm of 

 the Gulf Stream flows south east round the istands and seems to 

 prevent all immigration from Europe. As it comes from the open 

 Atlantic and has nol touched any country after the West Indies and 

 tropical North America, it can, as Ostenfeld says, only carry tropical 

 fruits and seeds^. These circumslances are seemingly unfavourable, 

 and Ostenfeld also declares, thai in his opinion the current can 

 never carry species thai will thrive in the Færoes. 



This is however scarcely quite right; even if the circumslances are 

 far from favourable, il seems to me it cannot be denied Ihat marine 

 algæ, which will thrive at the Færoes, can be carried there by cur- 

 renls. If we look al one of the lalesl of the currenl maps of the 

 northern part of the Allantic, as for instance Ryder's (73, lable 11) 

 which represents the seas between Norway, Scotland and Green- 

 land, and of which fig. 162 represents a photographic reproduction, 

 it must be ackno wiedged, that as lo the parts of the British Isles 

 which are nearest lo the Færoes, the direction of the current is 

 anything but favourable, as it flows from the Færoes in an almosl 

 straighl line towards the Shelland Isles. Circumslances are how- 

 ever totally different as lo Ihe wesl coast of Ireland. 



In order lo understand this, an ordinary, Iheoretical map of 

 Ihe currents is not sufficient; one must study a delailed chart, for 

 instance, the excellent »Monalskarte fur den Nordatlantichen Ozean« 

 prepared by Ihe »Deutsche Seewarte«, on which are indicated all 

 the directions of the currents observed during one month^. Also 

 in a paper on Rockali (Notes on Rockall Island and Bank elc. 

 Transaclions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. 31, Dublin 1896—1901) 

 the observed directions of the currents (all possible directions!) and 



^ Such fruits and seeds are frequentlj' washed ashore on the Færoes. Lyngbye 

 even mentions this in »Tentamen Hj^drophytologiæ« p. 60. I myself have also found 

 and received from inhabitants of the Færoes fruits and seeds of Cocos, Entacla giga- 

 lobiiim and Guilandina, all well knovvn from the beach woods of the West Indies. 



* In order to prevent any misunderstanding, I may give a report of what 

 Commodore G. Holm, the director of the chart-archives, has kindly communicated 

 to me, concerning the meaning of the arrows (compare figs. 163 — 4). »The arrows 

 indicate the observed directions of the currents. They are most likely compiled 

 from the journals of ships, and are the mean of the directions caused bj- a cur- 

 rent. Most likely these directions are immediately due to the wind, but in this 

 thej' do not differ from other currents, for most currents are originally produced 

 by the agency of the wind. The arrows must indicate surface currents extending 

 down more than several feet. several fathoms at least. 



