109 



large colony of them (e. g., Mcum athamanticnm, Aspleniiim marinum, 

 Scilla uerna, Hymenophylliiin peltatiiin) a greater part of which are 

 also to be found in the Færoes. This western part of Norway 

 corresponds most closely to the Færoes. Thus Ove DahP tells 

 us in his papers on the districts of Nord- and Sondfjord that only 

 27 of the Færoese species are wanting there (excepting the critical 

 genera). 



The two larger countries with which we have been comparing 

 the Færoes, contain then ahnost all the piants which are to be 

 found on the islands. The conformity is ahnost surprising and 

 proves that the Færdes are uery closely related to them in the matter 

 of phyto-geographJ^ It is otherwise with regard to Iceland, 

 with which country we are generally most disposed to connect the 

 Færoes both on account of its situation and of the identity of 

 geological configuration. In the list of the vascular piants of the 

 Færoes (p. 101 — 103) thosc species which are not found in Iceland 

 are marked " and they comprise no less than 61 of the 277 spon- 

 taneous species of the Færoes — i. e. about V* (V«) of the flora, 

 and a great many of the species are so common that they form 

 the dominant feature of the vegetation, e. g. Nartheciiim, Potentilla 

 erecta, Holcus- and Ca/'ex-species, Potamogeton polygonifolius, Luziila 

 silvatica, Polygala serpyllacea, Erica cinerea. They belong almost 

 exclusively to the temperate European and Atlantic forms, which 

 consequently do not grow so far north as Iceland; but strangely 

 enough on the other side Iceland contains several Temperate Euro- 

 pean species which are wanting in the Færoes (I think no less than 

 some 30) and w^iich must either have become extinct in the Færoes 

 or have been introduced more directly into Iceland. 



The resemblance hetween the Færoes and Iceland is then not so 

 close as might be eæpected , but on the other hånd that there eæists 

 some sort of connection between them is proved by the peculiar distri- 

 bution of a few species: Alchimilla fderoensis, which has only been 

 found in East-Iceland and in the Færoes (common in both piaces), 

 and Carex cryptocarpa distributed over the Færoes, Iceland (common), 

 South-Greenland and further across North-America to Kamskatka. 



In the earlier botanical literature, e. g. »Færoernes Flora« bj"^ 

 Rostrup (1870), we find shorter comparisons such as I have given 

 above, but Rostrup's figures and mine do not quite agree, chiefly 

 because the flora of the countries in question had not at that time 



^ See list of works at foot of p. 111. 



