July 26, 1883J 



NA TURE 



305 



Subsequent investigation proved that the ice and 

 snow flora was richer than had been anticipated. 

 Dr. Kjellman found at Spitzbergen not only "red 

 sn iw," but " green snow." Some of the " material " 

 was brought home in a dry state ; on being after- 

 wards examined, it was found to contain above a 

 dozen other plants, some of which were of a class 

 even lower than " red snow " ; others belonged to plants 

 of higher organisation. Mosses also in the protonemata 

 state were met with, but of very diminutive size. The ice 

 and snow vegetation of this and other localities is de- 

 scribed in detail. Special interest invests the kryokonit ' 

 with which all the specimens from South Greenland were 

 mixed, because it w-as found to contain a number of 

 germinating spores of Spharella nivalis. During the 

 winter of 1S80-81 Prof. Wittrock was fortunate enough 

 to enable some of these spores to develop themselves, 

 hence it was considered that they were resting spores. 

 They endure, without taking any harm, to be during the 

 greater part of the year, frozen up in the ice and snow of 

 the Arctic regions, and also to be dried up for some 

 months by the heat of the sun. The author's observa- 

 tions on the conditions of plant life in the Arctic regions 

 and on the glaciers of high northern tracts are particu- 

 larly interesting. He observes that these tracts are cer- 

 tainly not entirely deprived of the powerful and life-giving 

 influence of the sun's rays. They are, it is true, during 

 a great part of the year (in winter) enveloped in continual 

 darkness and gloom ; but at another period (in summer) 

 they are in the enjoyment of perpetual light. During 

 this period the sun's rays, although oblique, may exercise 

 a powerful influence. At midday the heat may be sur- 

 prisingly strong. Nordenskjold found that the warmth 

 of the air a short distance above the surface of the ice 

 at midday in July rose to 25 = -3o° of Celsius. It is evi- 

 dent that a great melting would take place on the surface 

 of the glaciers and snow-fields. There is then formed a 

 layer of snowy and icy water, which, though not much 

 above the zero of Celsius, is enough to satisfy the 

 demands for warmth of this portion of the simplest 

 organisations of the vegetable kingdom. That they thrive 

 under these hard conditions of life is evident from the 

 immense multitudes in which they occur. "Probably,'' 

 adds the author, " there is no other species on earth which 

 is richer in individuals than red snow." 



Prof. Wittrock gives a full description of the structure 

 and fructification of these minute plants ; then follows a 

 summary of their characteristics. The latter may be 

 thus briefly stated : — The flora of the ice- and snow-fields 

 consists almost entirely of algae of microscopical size and 

 of extremely low organisation ; the greater part of the 

 plants are unicellular ; they are sometimes solitary, some- 

 times in colonies. The fructification is very simple, 

 asexual, and of one kind only. These algas are generally 

 of bright and full colours. The "snow-flower " is blood- 

 red, Ancyloncma Nordenskjoldii purplish-brown ; many 

 Conferveae and Desmidieae are bright green The land 

 vegetation is represented entirely by mosses, which appear 

 to be nearly in the same low state of development as the 

 algae. 



The orders, families, genera, and species of which the 

 Arctic flora is composed are well arranged in tabular form 

 at pp. 112, 113. In this table the flora of the snow is 

 distinguished from that of the ice. It will be seen that 

 the most common plant is "red snow ; " the next in fre- 

 quency is Attcylonema Nordenskjbldii. The snow flora is 

 richer than that of the ice. The former includes thirty-seven 

 species ; the latter ten only. The mosses and Conferveae 

 belong exclusively to the snow flora. Ancyloncma is the 

 only plant which is limited entirely to the ice flora. Of 

 I'hycochromophyceae the ice flora has two species only, 

 while that of the snow possesses ten. The snow flora of 

 Spitzbergen is rich in Conferveae, that of Lapland in Des- 



* Analyses of kryokonit will be found at pp. ss. 96- 



midieae. In the middle north the Phycochroms prevail. 

 It is stated that Bacteria termo is occasionally found 

 within the limits of the ice and snow flora. Chytridium 

 hamatococci may also, observes the author, belong to the 

 Arctic flora, as it was found parasitic on Sph. nivalis on 

 the Berner glacier in Switzerland. 



It appears that the Arctic regions possess a microscopic 

 fauna as well as flora. The limits of this notice will only 

 permit a reference to p. 116, where the small animals of 

 which this fauna consists are described. One fact con- 

 nected with these little creatures may be mentioned. 

 With the object of a further study of the algae, Prof. 

 Wittrock put a portion of the dried material brought from 

 Spitzbergen into distilled water. He found that not only 

 the algae came to life again, a fact which he had before 

 observed with respect to red snow, but what was more 

 astonishing, even the little worms revived, and ate a great 

 deal of food, which could be distinguished under the 

 microscope as the reddish-yellow contents of the intes- 

 tinal canal of these transparent, colourless creatures. 



The work is illustrated by two woodcuts and by five 

 lithographic plates, one of which contains figures from 

 drawings by Prof. Wittrock of some of the plants ; the 

 others consist of views from drawings by Dr. Berggren, of 

 the inland ice of Greenland, representing localities from 

 whence portions of the material containing the ice and 

 snow flora were obtained. ' The view of the intermittent 

 spring which the travellers met with about 45 kilometres 

 from the coast, and which, bursting from a cleft in the 

 ice, throws up a jet of water to a great height, is of special 

 interest from the indications it gives of the probable 

 existence of warm conditions in the interior of Greenland. 

 It will be observed that the "sky-line" of the dis- 

 tance in some of the views shows an undulating outline, 

 suggesting a hilly country in the interior. 



Mary P. Mf.rrifield 



NOTES 



The Lords of the Committee of Council on Education have, 

 by a recent minute, decided to withdraw the prizes hitherto 

 given to candidates in the Science Examinations who obtain a 

 first class in the elementary stage of the various subjects of 

 science, substituting certificates of merit, and retaining only the 

 prizes given in the advanced stage. The money hitherto devoted 

 to prizes will be employed in providing thirty-six National 

 Scholarships— twelve each year— which will be offered in com- 

 petition to students of the industrial classes, and awarded at the 

 animal examinations of the department. The National Scholar- 

 ship will be tenable, at the option of the holder, either at the 

 Normal School of Science, South Kensington, or at the Royal 

 College of Science, Dublin, during the course for the Associate- 

 ship— about three years. The scholar will receive 30J. a week 

 during the session of about nine months in the year, second-class 

 railway fare to and from London or i ublin, and free admission 

 to the lectures and laboratories. This is a most important step 

 in advance. 



YYe have already announced that the Thirty-second Annual 

 Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science will beheldatMinneapolis, Minnesota, from August 15-21 

 next. A Local Committee has aho been formed to carry out the 

 arrangements at Minneapolis, and members expecting to attend 

 the meeting are requested to send a notification to that effect to 

 its secretary, Prof. H. N. Wurchcll, Minneapolis, without 

 delay. Full titles of all the papers to be read at the meetings 



1 i h >se who are interested in these alga: may like to know that specimens of 

 fourteen of them are included in the Fasciculi of dried freshwater algae distri- 

 buted by Prof. Wittrock and Dr. Otto Nordstedt, of which ten partshave al- 

 ready appeared. The nth fasciculus, containing other portions of the Arctic 

 flora will shortly be issued at Lund, Upsal. and Stockholm, under the follow- 

 ing title :— "Algae aquae dulcis exsiccatac praecipue Scandinavicac quas adjectis 

 algis niarinis chlorophyllaceis et phycochromaceis distribuerunt Veit Witt- 

 rock et Otto Nordstedt." 



