Some Notes concerning the Vegetation of Germania Land 397 



that time Cochlearia was flowering between the stones upon the 

 shore; a week into July Stellaria hiimifusa came into flower there; 

 somewhat higher up a single Braya occurred. Cochlearia and Stel- 

 laria were alone within their dominion where the snow had been 

 lying for a relatively long time. The rest of the large snowdrift 

 above the tent did not disappear until July 9. The direction of the 

 place is about S.— N. and it is protected towards the east b}' an 

 edge, a few metres high, of the primitive rock which further in- 

 wards was covered by loose masses of gravel and clay — an old 

 sea-bed and an old shore-formation. The snowdrift in towards this 

 rock-edge, as also the snow on the whole, presumably had disappeared 

 earlier than in 1907. And yet it was barren where it had been 

 Ijùng, which indicated that often it did not succeed in melting 

 during the course of one summer. In the uppermost northern part 

 of the place which had been occupied by the snowdrift, Cochlearia 

 f. minor stood in flower on July 9. Though Salix ventured near to 

 the places where the snow lay longest, yet it was not found where 

 the snow had last disappeared. In the somewhat lower ground, 

 between the snow and the more stony and somewhat higher part 

 around the tent, distinctly marked belts oi Alopecurus occur, about one 

 metre in breadth; also Luziila confusa. Between the tent and these 

 belts occur in a scattered manner — Papaver, Oxyria and Salix, as 

 also Cardamine bellidifolia ; Glyceria angiistata, Alopecurus, Cerastium, 

 Stellaria longipes, Saxifraga oppositifolia, Potentilla emarginata and 

 Juncus biglumis extend inwards towards the lower, southern part of 

 the snowdrift which at the extreme outside merged into the ice-foot. 

 Where the ground sloped upwards against the rock-edge and the 

 surface was damp and had cracked into polygonal cakes (a kind of 

 "Rudemark") there nothing had appeared as yet (July 9), and there 

 it was quite barren next the snow below the highest edge of the 

 rock. Where the snow had just disappeared from the lowest part, 

 not even moss was found. 



In the most northerly part of the area from which the snow 

 first disappeared, the above-mentioned belt of Alopecurus had wedged 

 itself in between the foot of the edge of rock and a lower belt of 

 Luzula which grew in tufts upon the polygonal cakes and imparted 

 a greenish-brown tone of colour to the ground. Into this community 

 there had ventured also a few specimens of Poa, Oxyria^ Salix and 

 Potentilla emarginata. There Oxyria had begun to flower, and there 

 a single, fresh shoot of Cerastium alpinum was also found. Just at 

 the edge of the belt towards the north, where it becomes more dry, 

 a solitary Saxifraga cernua occurred. Here, and further in beneath 



30* 



