The Plant-Life of Hare Island off the coast of West Greenland. 257 
areas are quite devoid .of plants, so are the coarse gravelly flat 
moraines where every rain-drop is instantly absorbed into the ground 
and where in winter the snow-covering is blown away. In the 
interior of the northern part, I saw also а black, coke-like and easily 
disintegrated tufa, which was as destitute of plant-life as if it had 
been poisonous. On rock-ledges of basalt and on the lee-side of 
larger stones are found conditions for a longer retention of the small 
snow-patches and for accumulation of organic dust and seeds, and 
there we may find representatives of the hardier species, viz. Dryas, 
Fig. 7. Surface of dry morainic soil; first stage of vegetation. In the illustration 
is seen Dryas integrifolia, Salix glauca, Carex nardina, Polygonum viviparum, 
Potentilla Vahliana, Draba sp., Papaver radicatum, Cetrariae and Gyrophorae 
(black spots on the stones), all poorly developed. 
Saxifraga oppositifolia, 5. groenlandica, 5. tricuspidata, Papaver, Сатра- 
nula uniflora, Myrtillus uliginosa var. microphylla, Epilobium latifolium, 
Erigeron compositus, Potentilla nivea, P. Vahliana, Drabae, Salix glauca, 
Carex nardina, Festuca ovina, Poa glauca, Hierochloé alpina, Usnea 
melaxantha, Gyrophora-species and other lichens (see fig. 7). When 
plants like Salix and Dryas have reached a considerable age and 
size, mosses and lichens settle amongst their branches, and the dust- 
snow- and seed-accumulating power of the little community is 
enlarged, conditions for the humidity being retained a_ longer 
time are gradually developed and the colonies increase in size. On 
clayey soil the sinking of the water into the ground is retarded, and 
