FLORA AND FAUNA 



aware how rare was such an occurrence at 78° S., I 

 regret to say that I did not collect specimens. One 

 species was sessile and tufted, another resembled the 

 alga Ulva, while a third was markedly fibrous. This 

 patch of green was sixty feet long and about fifteen 

 feet wide, and owed its existence to its sheltered snow- 

 free position facing the midday sun. 



On our second summer's sledging w^e came upon 

 another relatively heavily vegetated region in Ant- 

 arctica. This was at our permanent camp at Cape 

 Geology on the southwest side of Granite Harbor. 

 Here amid the bowlders and groins of granite were 

 ''chunks" of dormant moss, which, however, showed 

 practically no sign of growth that season. We found 

 frondose lichens also clustered on the rocks at the base 

 of Discovery Bluff nearby. The botanical specimens 

 which we collected here led us to name the adjacent 

 shores ''Botany Bay," and we found the moss abundant 

 enough to fill the crevices in the stone hut which we 

 built at the camp. Elsewhere I noted very small patches 

 of lichen now and again, but nowhere else did I come 

 across any abundant growth even of moss or lichen 

 in the several hundred miles of rocky coast which we 

 explored. 



However, in the w^armer regions of West Antarctica 

 there are more numerous examples of the vegetable 

 kingdom. There are actually two flowering plants 

 found in the northern part of the islands of Graham 

 Land. One of these is a grass called Dcschampsia 

 antarctica and the other is Colobanthiis crassifoHus, 

 allied to the pinks and campions. It is worth while 



201 



