390 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1950 



tions and international laws for the control of herds crossing the Nor- 

 wegian, Swedish, and Finnish boundaries. It has also encouraged the 

 study of the utilization of northern pastures, the vegetational cover, 

 and the study of lichens which are primarily winter feed but are taken 

 at all times of the j^ear by reindeer. 



Lapp culture is primarily a reindeer culture, so specialized in its 

 application that the Lapps have derived their own Lapponian terms 

 for varying types of reindeer grazing lands and lichen species which 

 they differentiate sharply, no mean feat in itself. The living prob- 

 lems of present-day Lapps arise mainly from the fact that some of 

 them have given up their nomadic habits and hence their main source 

 of revenue, reindeer herds. The Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish 

 Governments are conscious of their responsibilities toward these peo- 

 ple and of the importance of helping them maintain their culture, 

 and so they encourage lichenologists to make studies and surveys of 

 the lichen flora in those countries. 



Eeindeer have a market value of from 200 to 300 Swedish kroner 

 (3.60 Sw. kr.=$l, August 1947), and it is not unusual for a Lapp to 

 possess several thousand animals ; such a person can hardly be con- 

 sidered indigent. Reindeer meat is unrationed and is served through- 

 out Fennoscandia. The hide is used for leather goods and, with the 

 hair, is manufactured into footwear and a high-quality sleeping bag. 

 During the war German troops stationed in Finmarken slaughtered 

 reindeer indiscriminately for meat and hides. 



Reindeer culture is not peculiar to the Lapps but prevails also among 

 other nomadic tribes inhabiting lands bordering the Arctic Sea from 

 Murmansk across and down into Siberia. This is partly indicated in 

 a study (8) on the chemistry of under-snow fodder for winter pastures 

 of reindeer in the U. S. S. R. The United States Government and the 

 Canadian Government have embarked upon a program of wholesale 

 importation of reindeer into northern areas without consulting or 

 encouraging lichenological studies or surveys as a basis for selecting 

 nongrassy range lands for the highest relative pasture capacity. 



With an increase of both native and white populations in the Arctic 

 and sub- Arctic areas, the demands upon food, particularly meat, are 

 increased beyond the normal available supply of wild game. This 

 necessitates a more realistic evaluation of the proper and normal 

 utilization of uncultivated plants of the northern submarginal pas- 

 tures. Agriculture, for many reasons, is limited, even for the raising 

 of fodder ; the expense of maintaining and caring for domestic herds 

 of animals under rigorous summer and winter conditions is apparent. 

 The availability of large, self-sustaining herds, inured to Arctic 

 weather, requiring a minimum of care, but providing not only the 

 essentials of food and clothing but transportation if needed, would 



