PREFACE. 



These notes on the Arctic Erk'meœ were foi- the most part 

 published as early as 1885 — 86 in Botanisk Tidsskrift (Köben- 

 havn); Det Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskabs Oversigt; 

 and Det Kgl. Svenska Vetenskaps Akaderaiens Bihang. 

 But as they were written in Danish, they have been but little used 

 by foreign botanists. They have now been collected and published 

 in English in the present (36th) volume of Meddelelser om 

 Grønland, after having been supplemented by additional observa- 

 tions and figures, some of which are old, but have not hitherto 

 been published, while some are new, having been made during the 

 present year (1907) and based upon the rich material belonging 

 to the Botanical Museum in Copenhagen. 



The present notes are the first of a series upon the structure 

 and biology of the Arctic flowering-plants which will probably be 

 published by me and several other Danish botanists; the object 

 of publication is that they may serve as a basis for subsequent 

 botanical studies to those who may work in Arctic countries, and 

 who may thereby be enabled to make biological observations on 

 the spot more quickly and with greater accuracy. 



1 wish to mention here that when Ekstam in 1894 (p. 419) 

 wrote in regard to me that I "in einer Menge von Fällen nur in 

 Alkohol aufbewahrtes oder getrocknetes Material zu seiner [c: meiner] 

 Verfügung gehabt" as regards the investigations in flower-biology 

 of Scandinavian plants, this is not quite correct, and I never made 

 the above statement. On the contrary, both during my travels in 

 West Greenland in 1884 when, on board a Danish man-of-war, I 

 visited the Danish colonies situated between 64° and 69° N. lat. 

 (Godthaab, Sukkertoppen, Holstensborg, Egedesminde, Jakobshavn 

 and Godhavn) and also during my travels in Finmark, in 1885, 

 when I stayed for a long time at Bosekop, Kaafjord and Tromsø 

 (69" — 70°N.lat.) I have always been very careful, above all things, to 



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