6 BOTANICAL RESULTS OF THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



life. Almost every spot where a plant might obtain a hold is covered with these birds 

 in the proportion of at least one to a square yard, and nothing escapes their insatiable 

 curiosity or fails to be examined with their beaks, while in a few weeks' time such a 

 rookery is in an indescribable state of filth, being entirely covered with several inches 

 of mud and manure through which the penguins are incessantly tramping hither and 

 thither ; circumstances which would render plant life quite out of the question. It is 

 true that here and there one finds a small expanse even as much as an acre I have 

 once seen of moss-covered rocks which by successive years' growth are covered with 

 6 to 8 inches of vegetable soil, but these are spots much less accessible from the 

 sea, and are very seldom suitable for rookeries which is, of course, the sole condition 

 under which this continuous growth of moss from year to year could continue. In 

 such spots one might look, though in vain, for flowering plants, and perhaps in con- 

 sequence conclude that the influence of the penguins, though potentially inimical to 

 vegetable life, has never cause to operate, at least against flowering plants. But it must 

 be noted that these moss formations, though in many respects suitable for phanerogamic 

 plant life, are yet always very late in losing their winter snow, and generally lie in 

 sheltered places where wind-carried seeds would be little likely to arrive. That seeds of 

 Fuegian species of phanerogams occasionally reach Graham Land and the adjacent South 

 Shetland and South Orkney Islands is more than probable, considering the prevalence of 

 winds from the north of west in that region : it is even possible, though far less likely, 

 that wind-carried seeds from Kerguelen and Heard Islands occasionally alight on parts of 

 the coasts of Wilkes Land. Most important in relation to the possible wind transport 

 of Fuegian species to Antarctica is the discovery by Dr F. E. Fritsch of pollen grains of 

 Podocarpus among the algae found in a patch of red snow in the South Orkneys. 

 The nearest land from which these pollen grains could have come is southern South 

 America, where several species of Podocarpus occur in Chili, some at high altitudes, 

 and so more likely to have their pollen carried by the wind. I cannot suggest any 

 way in which these pollen grains can have reached the South Orkneys other than by 

 wind carriage, and their presence seems indisputable proof of the possibility of this 

 occurring. In this relation it is noteworthy that Dr Fritsch believes " that the nature 

 of some of the Antarctic freshwater plankton points to wind carriage over considerable 

 distance, although the available data are not sufficient." 



The likelihood of the transport of seeds by birds is lessened by the fact of there 

 being only one true land bird (Chionis alba] in the Antarctic, but it seems quite 

 probable that seeds and spores are occasionally carried adhering to the feet and feathers 

 of such wandering birds as the southern black-backed gull, the skua, and the giant 

 petrel, which range from sub-antarctic to Antarctic lauds. Almost everywhere that 

 snow-free land occurs on the coasts of Antarctica in summer, innumerable birds find 

 nesting-places, and these are the places where or near where most of the vegetation 

 occurs. As regards floating ice, I do not think that in the Antarctic it ever acts as an 

 agency in the dispersal of species. 



