ANTARCTIC PLANT GEOGRAPHY 



345 



of the warmest month is only about -4° C. ; at Cape Adare, some seven 

 degrees farther north, it is -0.3°; at Snow Hill in Graham Land it 

 is -0.9°; and even at the South Orkneys, in about latitude 61°, it is 

 not half a degree above freezing point. The three summer months, 

 December, January, and February, in the true Antarctic climate. 



Fig. I — Map of the plant geographical" provinces of the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions ac- 

 cording to Skottsberg (paper cited above in footnote 2). Scale, about 1:120,000,000. 



I, Antarctic vegetation province (within the 6oth parallel). II, sub-Antarctic vegetation province, 

 subdivided into (i) sub-Antarctic South America, consisting of (A) South ChOean-Fuegian province and 

 (B) Magellanian-Falklandian province; (2) South Georgia district; (3) Kerguelen district; (4) New 

 Zealand district, consisting of (A) the sub-Antarctic part of South Island, (B) Bounty-Antipodes- 

 Auckland province, and (C) Macquarie province. Ill, dominion of Australia. IV, dominion of Tristan 

 da Cunha, St. Paul, and New Amsterdam Islands, aaaaa, extreme outer limit of drifting pack ice. 



invariably have a combined mean below freezing point. As a result, 

 the snow lies late on the ground, and December is well advanced before 

 the sun's rays lay bare what little soil occurs in a few places. By 

 early February the snow again begins to accumulate.* Only for four 



■" These conditions may be compared with the Arctic, where the warmest month always has a 

 mean above the freezing point, and the combined mean of the three summer months is nearly always 

 above that point. The summer, though short, is a real summer in the Arctic. 



