June 1905.] | BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 103 
the place, yet I am inclined to think Weddell mistook a 
lichen (Usnea) growing luxuriantly at Cape Dundas for a 
grass, This was also the impression of Dumont d’Urville, 
who visited the island in 1838.1 Cape Dundas, it must be 
remembered, is the eastermost point of the islands, and there- 
fore the least likely spot for wind-carried seed to be deposited 
in that region of the westerly winds, and the coast there is 
unprotected and the anchorage bad, which make it improbable 
that whalers who could have been responsible for the intro- 
duction of the plant would have landed there unless, like 
Weddell, they had a scientific end in view. However, it is 
worth noting that the South Shetlands, which are very 
similar in physical conditions to the South Orkneys, support 
Deschampsia antarctica. 
Owing to the fact that the South Orkneys lie within the 
region normally ice-bound in winter, the temperature is 
comparatively low, ranging from a mean of 9°°5 F. in mid- 
winter (June) to 31°°5 F. in mid-summer (December). The 
extreme range is from —40° F. to 47° F., but an approach to 
either of these extremes, particularly the latter, is rare.” 
The mean of the year is 22°77 F® Snowfall is excessive, 
sunshine very deficient, and strong gales frequent. 
Through the kindness of the Director of Kew, Mr. C. H. 
Wright has determined my mosses. To him, and to Dr. O. V. 
Darbishire, who has undertaken the report on the lichens, I 
should like to record my indebtedness. Papers dealing with 
the alge of the South Orkneys appeared in the “Journal of 
Botany ” for April, May, and July 1905. A subsequent paper 
on the unicellular freshwater alge will complete this account 
of the botany of these islands. 
II. THE Mosses OF THE SouTH ORKNEYS. By C. H. 
Wricat, F.L.S. 
[The following list contains eight species of mosses, of 
which two are too incomplete to admit of precise identifica- 
tion. The other six are all known from Antarctic or 
! Dumont d’Urville, “ Voyage du Pole Sud,” vol. 11. p. 131. 
2 R. C. Mossman, “Scot. Geog. Mag.,” vol. xx. p. 116, and vol. xxi. 
p. 13, and August 1905. 
3 These figures are for 1903—a year which subsequent observations 
prove to have been milder than the average. 
