252 CARI. SKOTTSUERG 



important causes of the well-known poverty of the Arctic littoral region. 

 And with regard to the Antarctic, wlicre the drifting ice, the pack , 

 has sucli an immense extension, and is after our o\\ n observations, able 

 to blockade a coast for a long time, we must accept the same (opinion. 

 Both littoral and sublittoral tracts are quite polished by icefloes, which 

 violent waves or tidal currents carry against the rocks. 



In small bays, straits and inlets we have also to reckon during 

 the winter-months with a mighty, immovable icec(n'er. As an example 

 I mention some of my observations on the ice-conditions in the strait 

 between Faulet Island and Dundee Island in 1903. The summer 1902 

 — 03 was very unfavourable and the Erebus and Terror gulf showed 

 masses of pack-ice, that did not drift away until the beginning of March 

 1903. In the middle of March it came back, and the temperature being 

 low, we soon got fast ice between Faulet and Dundee I.; on the 2(Sth 

 it was I '/., on the 30th 2 feet thick. During April large cracks were 

 formed on the surface, but new ice froze immediately in them. One 

 day the strait was cleared by heavy gales, but on the 25th \\t find 

 again a fine cover af 7 or 8 inches, and it than increased day by day, 

 reaching a thickness of at least several feet. Open water could be seen 

 only far out at sea. During August it came nearer, but the general 

 break-up did not come before the end of October. Thus this tract, 

 the Dundee strait, was covered with ice during 7 or 8 months. Dredg- 

 ings as well as fishing hooks have shown that a rich vegetation exists 

 in this strait. The same factors must be taken into consideration here 

 as in the Arctic,'' the want of light under the ice, which generally is 

 covered with a thick layer of hardfrozen snow. In our (iraham region there 

 is indeed PxO polar night to deal with, all observations on jilant-life ha\'ing 

 been made in too northern latitudes, where there is at least 2 or 3 hours 

 daylight of any use for alga;, provided the light gets through the ice- 

 cover. Dr. Andersson^ reports that when crossing the Crownprince- 

 GUSTAN US-Channel during his sledge-trip he found unbroken ice, some 

 years old. In this place I think that it, if there has e\'er been an)' 

 macroscopic marine flora, must be extinct. Nevertheless, the Antarctic 

 alga; must possess to a very high degree the faculty of living for months 

 on the jiroductions of the prexious summer; this fact howexer does not 

 afford a satisfactory explanation of the matter. 



' Compare K|ii.i.m.\\ in Alg. Aret. Sea, p. 33. 



' NoRDKN'SKjoi.n, AxDiiRssox, L.\RSE\ och Skotisiu.iu;; .Antarctic (Stlilin 1904. 

 A. Bonnier) II, p. 213. 



