Preliminary report on tlie botanical worlt of the 

 second Norwegian polar expedition 1898—1902. 



By 



Herman G. Simmons, 



of Lund, Sweden. 



A. 



.s a somewhat long time must probably elapse before the 

 publication of the scientific results of the expedition can be 

 begun, it has seemed to Professor Wille and myself as well 

 as to Captain Sverdrup, that meanwhile a brief account, stating 

 the principal points of the botanical work, which I have had 

 the opportunity to achieve during our stay in the arctic regions, 

 would be desirable. As all the materials have first to be worked 

 through and most of the determinations made during the journey 

 have to be revised before I think fit to lay them before the 

 public, I must in most cases abstain from giving more than a 

 mere statement of the places which I have visited and where a 

 botanical survey has been made, in connection with a brief 

 account of the collections made in different parts of Ellesmere- 

 land and in the other countries where we have had occasion 

 to make observations or gather specimens. 



I could certainly give lists of plants from the different di- 

 stricts and sketches of the principal features of the vegetation, 

 but the former would be incomplete as long as I have no re- 

 liable determinal ions of all plants and the latter would have to 



