CUBBRENT-LIFERATURE. 
BOOK REVIEWS. 
Botany of the Faeroes. 
THESE INTERESTING ISLANDS have been the subject of a thorough 
investigation by Danish botanists, whose results are being published in 
English. In part I Warming gives a brief account of previous botanical 
work in the islands, after which C. H. Ostenfeld sets forth the geography, 
topography, industrial conditions, geology, and climate. The latter author 
lists and discusses the phanerogams and pteridophytes of the islands, and 
presents an interesting phytogeographic summary. e finds, as have others 
in northern lands, that several species, more at home in temperate climes, do 
not bear fruit. There are no endemic species, and the flora is strikingly like 
that of Scandinavia and Britain. Of 277 species of vascular plants, 70 are 
Arctic, 164 Temperate European, and 43 Atlantic. Ostenfeld regards the 
flora'as postglacial, and he thinks that the Faeroes have been joined to the 
continent since the’ ice age. The plants are not notably adapted for wind or 
bird dispersal; furthermore, few migratory birds pass over these islands; and 
those which come migrate on empty stomachs. The ocean currents have the 
wrong direction to be of any avail. Finally, there is good direct evidence of 
higher land in recent times. C. Jensen treats the bryophytes in a similar 
manner, and F, Bérgesen takes up the freshwater algae. The latter author 
takes issue with Ostenfeld, and inclines to think that winds and migrating 
birds have brought most of the freshwater algae to the islands. Jan Mayen 
has similar facts to be accounted for, but there a postglacial land bridge is 
out of the question. E. Ostrup treats the freshwater diatoms, E. Rostrup the 
fungi, and Deichmann Branth the lichens. 
Most of part II is taken up by Bérgesen’s excellent treatment of the 
marine algae. He lists and discusses critically 83 reds, 73 browns, 46 
greens, and 14 blue-greens. Ostrup considers the marine diatoms, and 
Ostenfeld the marine phytoplankton, The latter author discusses the 
seasonal changes of the plankton, which he finds to be prevailingly oceanic 
and not arctic in relationship. The phytoplankton of freshwater lakes is 
presented by Bérgesen and Ostenfeld, and Dahlstedt gives a critical account 
of the Hieracia. At the close of the second part Warming considers the 
question over which Bérgesen and Ostenfeld disagreed in the first part, and 
* BoTANY of the Faeroes based upon Danish investigations. Part I. 8vo. pp- 338. . 
bls. 10. figs. 1901. Part II. pp. 343. pls. 2. figs. 100. 1903. Copenhagen: Det 
ante Forlag ; London: John Wheldon & Co. 
392 [NOVEMBER 
