352 AnDU. LlNDAGKH 



As seen from the table (p. 350), the amount ol precipitation is 

 on the whole inconsiderable, but least during spring and autumn. 



On September 18, 1900, the percentage of moisture in the 

 air was recorded to be 44'. The result of a dry autumn is thorough 

 desiccation of the soil before the snow-covering comes, and this 

 circumstance is of vital importance to the vegetation. Not until 

 September 24 does snow come, and the temperature is constantly 

 relatively high. The minimum, — 13.0^ — is not reached until 

 the end ot the month; no regular snowstorm occurred until 

 October 22nd. 



At New Year there is only a thin covering of snow in the district 

 around Danmarks Havn. 



AU the level areas of the rocky flat proper are nearly free from 

 snow, and consequently the vegetation there has no protection against 

 the wind and weather. It is of common occurrence that the winter 

 snow is carried away by the wind and forms drifts on the leeward 

 of rocks. From the level ground on the rocky flat the snow disappears 

 almost entirely after the first storm of wind which closely follows the 

 snowfall when it does not accompany it; at any rate in such places the 

 snow does not remain long enough to confer humidity upon the 

 soil during spring. In bogs and meadows, in so far they may be 

 called meadows, the circumstances are somewhat ditTerent; here the 

 snow finds shelter and is able to form a rather considerable layer, 

 the thickness of which varies according to the character of the 

 vegetation. In places where the latter is dense and covers the 

 ground entirely, the uppermost dead apices of grasses and Cyperaceæ 

 protrude above it and lie prostrate upon its surface in the direction 

 of the prevailing wind, NW. — SE. Where the ground is uneven by 

 erosion and has isolated boulders, the surface appears dark seen 

 from the NW. while the snow is lying on the leeward towards 

 the south. Everywhere along the hill-sides large snow-drifts occur, 

 and they condition the life of the vegetation upon the more level 

 areas lower down, Eriophorum-bogs (Fig. 1) being usually formed if 

 the gradient is favourable, so that the water may find outlets. Above 

 such bogs, areas are often found which are not laid bare by the 

 melting of the snow until late in summer, and there a barren slush 

 of clayey mud only is formed. 



Inwards in the bay, on Hvalrosodde which I visited on January 

 4, 1907, the extensive area along the river is also free from snow. 

 It consists of moraine formations with an almost level surface, of 

 which the entirely flat areas are quite snowless; here Statice armeria 

 stands quite unprotected. Only the small channels formed by melted 

 snow afforded a shelter for the snow beneath which Cassiope lies 



