INTRODUCTION. 



THK botanical results of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition deal principally 

 with the South Orkney Islands and with l>ifgo Alvarez orGougli Island. From neither 

 of these islands ha<l \\- any botanical knowledge before the visit of the Scotia. 



The South Orkneys were visited twice during the summer, in February 1903 and 

 February 1904, and at Scotia Bay in Laurie Island the Scotia spent the winter of 1903. 

 Numerous opportunities thus presented themselves for making collections of the scanty 

 flora of Laurie Island. 



On Gough Island the naturalists of the .s' -<>ti<t were able to spend only a few hours 

 ashore on one day, and on that occasion it was impossible to go far inland out of touch 

 with the ship, since the weather conditions were such as to promise a hasty recall. 

 Consequently the collections from Gough Island are in no direction exhaustive. 



No lauding was made on Coats Land, which the expedition had the honour to dis- 

 cover, since none was possible, owing to the lateness of the season and the threatening 

 nature of the heavy pack in which the Scotia was beset. 



The marine alga? of the Weddell Sea were most extensively collected through fully 

 10,000 miles of previously unexplored waters, not to speak of the collections made from 

 Madeira to the Falkland Islands, and from Cape Town to the Azores. The Report on 

 the Phytoplankton will be published later. Dr Harvey Pirie has added the results of 

 his bacteriological work. 



A few notes of value on the botany of Ascension are included, based on collection* 

 made on the homeward voyage of the Scotia. 



On an expedition primarily equipped for oceanogrnphical exploration, a botanist 

 cannot look for great opportunities beyond the study of phytoplaukton, and it is with 

 great pleasure that I look back on the invariable thoughtfulness and help of my leader, 

 I >r W. S. Bruce, whenever an occasion for botanical work presented itself. I would take 

 this opportunity of recording my thanks to him and to my colleagues of the Scottish 

 National Antarctic Expedition for the generous assistance they gave me in furthering 

 and in sharing my work on the expedition. 



Accounts of the greater part of the botanical collections of the Scottish National 

 Antarctic Expedition have appeared at various times in different botanical publications. 

 From these publications they are reprinted, in many cases with additions and altera- 



