The plan of this paper is to give in the first part a brief histo- 

 rical survey of our knowledge of the Færoese vegetation, especially 

 as regards its ecology. The influence of external conditions on the 

 vegetation is next considered along with different biological features 

 of importance with regard to the physiognomy of the vegetation 

 and its composition. The main part of the paper then foUows as 

 a description of the plant-formations, with a review of the adapta- 

 tions of the various piants to the conditions under which they live. 



The English edition difl'ers in several respects from the Danish 

 one, as I have altered the treatment of some parts (especially Chap. 

 III.) and have put in many corrections and amendments. The 

 translation, made by a Danish translator, has been corrected and 

 revised by Dr. W. G. Smith of the University of Leeds, and I 

 wish here to thank him sincerely for his assistance in the neces- 

 sary, but not always easy task of finding Enghsh equivalents for 

 Danish ecological terms. The full text of this paper has thus been 

 rendered available for English readers. 



I. HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LITERATURE RELATING 

 TO THE VEGETATION OF THE FÆROES. 



Prior to the detailed investigations carried out during the last 

 10 years, the principal source of our knowledge of the vegetation 

 of these islands was E. Rostrup's treatise: »Færoernes Flora« (1870). 

 Some of the still earlier works refer to vegetation in more or less 

 casual m anner. Nowhere, however, is there any special considera- 

 tion of that aspect which is our particular objective, namely: a de- 

 scription of the plant associations of the Færoes, and 

 their conditions of li fe. 



It is only regarding the associations of cultivation (the Farm- 

 land with its cornfields and grass-meadows) that the earlier authors 

 give any information. 



Jorgen Landt in 1800 published a description of the Færoes 

 with a long list of piants, but says nothing about the vegetation 

 in the uncultivated part of the country. There is a detailed chapter 

 on the condition of agriculture (1. c, p. p. 292^ — 320) and on haymaking 

 (p. p. 320—328), and we are told how the inhabitants treat the soil 

 brought under cultivation. The methods then in use, more than a 

 hundred years ago, were much the same in their principal features 

 as those now employed and described later in this paper. The 



