BOT. WORK OF SEC. NORW. POLAR EXPEDITION. 



of Smith Sound, not however, on the mainland of Ell es mere- 

 land which during the latter part of the voyage was our princi- 

 pal field of work, but on Bedford Pim Island in the vicinity 

 of Camp Clay, the last sadly renovned winterquarters of the 

 GREELY-expedition. This dreary, wind-swept locality in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of Kane Bassin yielded only a few 

 species of stunted plants. A few days later however I had 

 occasion to notice that the vegetation of EUesmereland must 

 not be judged solely by the unprepossessing aspect of the place 

 we first visited. Cape Rutherford and its environs, which were 

 than visited, could boast of a comparatively rich vegetation, 

 especially on some slopes towards the southeast, there was an 

 abundant growth of Cassiope tetragona, Myrtillus uliginosa 

 var. microphylla, Oxyria digyna, and other plants in luxuriant 

 and well developped specimens. On a great plain behind the 

 cape I observed, besides many other species, great groups of 

 Papaver radicatum which, in spite of the advanced season, 

 were quite yellow with flowers. 



I had however only occasion to make a few more excur- 

 sions that autumn in the vicinity of our first winterharbour, 

 for a few days later the frost set in and soon everything was 

 covered with a layer of snow, which although of no considerable 

 depth, was yet enough to make further excursions rather im- 

 profitable. 



Rice Strait seemed to hold a rather rich vegetation of 

 algae and on account of the strong current there was open 

 water for a long time. However the whole crew was engaged 

 in the hunting of walruses and no boat was available for dred- 

 ging. Moreover my handskrapers had been stowed away, so 

 that it was impossible to find them until later on in the 

 winter. 



During the winter I could only occasionally make an obser- 

 vation except in the case of two series of temperature-rea- 

 dings. One comprising observations of temperature below a 



Nyt Mag. f. Naturv. XXXXI. III. 15 



