OBSERVATIONS ON TIIK VEGETATION OF 1111. \\ lAKClIC SEA 247 



The collection of the Scottish National Antarctic l^x|)e(lition 1902 

 — 03 to the South ( )ikne\- Islands is the i^reatest hitherto described 

 and some conclusions as to depth, bottom etc. may be drawn from 

 GeiM's' and Holmes's papers.' Mr. and Mrs. Gei'I" describe several 

 new and intcrestin«^ species in a paper on al^a- brouLjht back from 

 Victoria Land; but unfortunately tliis ])aper Ikis not \et been printed. 

 Of the ClIARCOT-expetlition of 1904 — 05 I have not received any news. 



When the author of the present treatise accompanied the Swedish 

 Antarctic ICxpedition, he proposed to himself to make a careful investi- 

 «^ation of marine flora, in order to i^ive a pictiu'e true to life of its na- 

 ture, according; to excellent types from other seas. He knows very 

 well, that he has not been very successful, owing to some extent at 

 least to acKerse circumstances, which interfered with the progress of 

 the enterprise. 



On the iith of January 1902 the Antarctic» under the command 

 of Dr. ( ). .\oi-lDENSKl(')l.l), reached the Antarctic regions, -and there re- 

 mained imtil the 26th of Februar)-, when we w^ere compelled to return 

 to more northern latitudes. The collections made during this journey 

 were sent ashore at Port Stanley on the h'alkland Islands and thus sa\'ed. 

 It must appear rather strange to anyone unfamiliar with the matter, 

 that these collections should be so very small and not at all compar- 

 able to those, which were made during the second and shorter stay in 

 November and December of the same year, and which were subse- 

 quently almost entireh' lost with the ship. The list of the dredge sta- 

 tions will illustrate better than words the difference between the work 

 done during the first summer and that tluring the second. The ex- 

 planation of this lies in the fact that the expedition onboard the 

 vessel changed its leader after the first summer; during that time scienti- 

 fic interests often hade to gi\-e way to others, the importance ol 

 which this is not the proper place to discuss. 



I brought in January 1902 back from a couple of stations a material, 

 which was sufticient to pro\'e that the flora is richer than expected, 

 but quite insufficient to prevent me from forming an entirely wrong- 

 conclusion as to the general appearance of the vegetation. This wrong 

 idea c[uite disapi)eared during our second visit, when the expedition, under 



* A. lV S. E. GtPP: Antarctic algit. Journal of Botanv, .\pril 1905. 



Lcptosarca: a correction. Ibid. May 1905. 



More antarctic algix;: Ibid. July 1905. 



E. M. HoLMKS: Some South Orkney algit. Ibid. July 19O). 



