277 



of being part of a mountain chain, since it rises abruptly from 

 the ocean, and has a very broken crest of considerable height, 

 with numerous steep peaks, of which Mt. Paget reaches 2000 m. 

 Two distinct periods of glaciations may be traced, and when the 

 ice withdrew from the lowlands for the last time it left con- 

 siderable deposits of morainic material in the valleys close to the 

 coast. It is on those which have not been washed away that 

 plants especially establish themselves. The present inland ice 

 is of the Alpine rather than of the Antarctic type. 



The climate is very similar to that of Fuegia and the Falklands, 

 but the temperatures are lower, the summer shorter and the 

 seasons less well-marked. 



If the term " formation" be used in a wide sense all the vege- 

 tation of South Georgia may be described as tundra-formation, 

 and the following associations can be recognized : 1. Poa 

 flabeUata association. 2. The vegetation of the rocky shore. 

 3. The inland tundra. 4. The swamps. 5. The fresh-water 

 vegetation. 



Skottsberg records four species of Pteridophytes and l(i 

 Phanerogams. Poa flabeUata, the tussock grass," is the most 



membe 



In the first period of glaciation the land was completely 

 covered with ice and no vascular plants could have existed. The 

 land may have been colonised in the interglacial period, and in 

 the second glacial epoch some plants may have survived, or they 

 all may have been exterminated. South Georgia has no endemic 

 Phanerogams, such as are found in Kerguelen, which was never 

 wholly glaciated. There is, therefore, no objection to accepting 

 the view that the vascular flora of South Georgia is post-glacial. 

 Further, there is no evidence of a land connection in post-glacial 

 times with any continental area. 



The flora is obviously related to that of Fuegia. The Crypto- 

 gams probably reached the island by wind-dispersal of their 

 spores, while the seeds of flowering plants were possibly brought 

 by birds who travelled with the prevailing west winds. It is 

 only necessary to assume the arrival of one species every thousand 

 years since the Ice Age to account for the species now found. 



Amongst the mosses there are numerous endemic types which 

 must be regarded as belonging to the preglacial flora. On the 

 other hand, amongst the cryptogams generally there are many 

 Magellanic species, some with circumpolar distribution, some 

 found only in South Georgia and Kerguelen, and some only in 

 South Georgia and the Antarctic continent. This supports the 

 theory that there is here a branch of the old Antarctic flora, of 

 which so many traces are found outside of the Antarctic proper, 

 recalling a time when there was closer connexion than now 

 between the different groups of islands — the South Shetlands, 

 the South Orkneys, the South Sandwich Islands and South 

 Georgia. 



Graham Land. (15.) 



The climatic conditions of the Antarctic regions are well known 

 to be the most severe in the world. The strong wind storms clear 

 Awav +1io o-nnw in Wlfirota nml if it were not for this no vegetation 





