31 



MudZostera covers most of the sea bottom, only, however, to a depth of quite 

 3 fathoms. 



In the more open parts of the Smaaland Waters the Zostera reaches mueli 

 deeper down, e. g. at Omø to ca. 5 fathoms and at Kirkegrund and Venegrund 

 to oa. 4\'^, fathoms; tlie dee])er parts are on the coutrary devoid of »grass«. The 

 piants are here some^vhat uarrower in the leaves and on the whole more delicate 

 thau amongst the small islands. 



13. Guldborgsund. Through Guldborgsund runs a partly artificially 

 niaintained fairM'ay, the bottom of wliich (the depth is 3 fathoms or more) is bare 

 muddy bottom; but apart from this passage, the bottom of the sound is every- 

 where covered by Mud-Zostera; thick and vigorous vegetations on soft bottom 

 from 3 å 2'/2 fatjioms and less; and on the dark (mud-mixed) sand of tlie shallow 

 waters more scattered, short and narrowleaved plauts, amongst which Tiuppia. 

 ZunHlchrUi(( and Potamogcton pcctinaUts occur as a frequent intermixture. Amongst 

 the piants, like moss in meadows, grow Chara and Tolypclla and other algæ 

 (CJddophoia ruppstris, Furcellaria etc). 



As the sound is widest to tlie south, the tract covered becomes 

 greatest there. 



Almost the same conditions occur in the closed water south of Nysted, 

 bonnded towards the open Baltic by the Rødsaud barrier; the shallow water (to 

 quite 1 fathom) is however here sparsely covered, generally bare sandy bottom 

 with scattered Zostera patches; on the other haud from IV-j to 2^1 ^ fathoms there 

 is soft ground with vigorous Mud-Zostera with »moss« at the bottom. 



14. Grønsund, Ulvsund and the Bøgestrøm. In the whole part 

 between Zealand ou the one side, Møen, Falster and the small islands on the 

 other, and among the islands themselves, the kind of vegetation is almost as in 

 Guldborgsund; there is however some difference on the southern open part of 

 Grønsund and the Storstrøm at Masnedø as oue division, and the other tract as 

 another, as the two mentioned sounds are less protected than the others and 

 conse(]uently with less abundant Zostera vegetation. The Zostera does not 

 generally reach deeper than 2 fathoms, and if the bottom, on accouut of tho 

 action of the waves, is firm and sandy at this depth, the Zostera vegetation will 

 also be small, consisting of fairly short and narrow-leaved piants in patches. At 

 more protected piaces, especially in the whole of the Bøgestrøm, the bottom is on 

 the other haud still soft at a depth of from 2 to almost 1 fathom and here we 

 find widely distributed Zostera vegetation with large and broad-leaved piants, 

 mixed with the other marine flowering plauts and Chira. In shallower water the 

 bottom becomes mixed with sand in the same way as in Guldborgsund. 



15. The Bal ti c. From the open Baltic I have only observations from 

 south of Rødsand (Lolland), from the south and east coast of Falster and from 

 Faxe Bay (Zealand); but they all agree and may certainl}' be regarded as applying 

 also to the other tract along the south coast of Lolland and Møen. 



The open unprotected situation appears in the faet that the bottom is 

 firm to a fairly great depth, at any rate deeper than the Zostera can live. It is 



5 



