THE ORNITHOLOGY AROUND VARDOL. 378 



the most northerly point of which is Nord Kyn ; 

 the other, Varanger Naes, surrounded by Tana 

 fjord, Tana river, and Varanger fjord, on the east 

 point of which lies Wardoe, the most northerly 

 town or village in Europe. These large islands, 

 and a great part of the " Fast" land which lies con- 

 tiguous to Hops and Eids fjords, consist of a 

 tolerably flat table-land dotted with higher 

 mountains, having on its surface long stretches 

 of shingle and gravel, without the least signs 

 of vegetation, not even lichens, although on 

 the snow mosses which lie here throughout the 

 whole year we find the so-called "red snow" 

 (which singular phenomenon in nature is at- 

 tributed by the celebrated Swedish professor, 

 Agardth, to the agency of a species of algse 

 (Protococcus nivalis, Grev.), and of which Berkeley, 

 in his "Introduction to Cryptogamic Botany," 

 observes " In the very confines of the order, we 

 thus become acquainted with the striking resem- 

 blances which are exhibited by certain states of 

 algae and infusoria resemblances which are so 

 close as to be perfectly convincing that we must 

 greatly modify our notions of the distinctness of 

 animal and vegetable life if we wish them to agree 

 with fact, and not with mere arbitrary theories." 



On this table-land we find large mosses, or 

 morasses, partly flat and even, partly filled up 



