355 



and killed vegetation are often seen in the midst of the destroying, 

 down-rolled masses of stones. 



The plants often completely change their aspects in these 

 exposed places. Silène acaiilis evidently can endure a good 

 deal ; it is often seen with the strangest of shapes ; the normal 

 thick tuft with a circular outline is destroyed and torn up, 

 and the single shoots are isolated ; but so long as the long, 

 obliquely lying (originally vertical) tap root is well anchored 

 amongst the stones the plant keeps in life and sets flowers and 

 fruits (Fig. 4). Arenaria ciliata too is a plant which can live 

 surprisingly long and well upon slides. On normal, tranquil 

 ground it most often forms dense semi-globular tufts ; but often 

 did I see it on the sliding slopes with stretched joints and 

 fibrous, yet flowering and fructiferous ; also this plant has a 

 long, powerful tap root reaching far into the ground. 



Rarely have I seen a so marked «striate land» as in 

 the basalt-tracts here at Turner's Sund, especially on the 

 flat or gently sloping foreland between the mountain slope and 

 the sound (mentioned and figured by 0. Nordenskjold in "Medd. 

 om Grønl." XXXVIII, p. 274). 



If one follows the direction of the basalt ridges and the 

 coast line at a right angle to the «striae» one alternately passes 

 walls of big, sharp edged blocks and grooves between the walls 

 made up of finer material, gravel and sand, rushing torrents 

 of melting-water and avalanches having torn open the surface, 

 now here now there, at difi"erent times. 



In the grooves is found an exceedingly poor — yet if the 

 groove has been for some time preserved of more considerable 

 devastations — tolerably continuous, cover forming vegetation, 

 chiefly formed by the little Anthelia julacea, which is often 

 completely blackened by old, dried-up membranes of algae 

 (doubtless Cya^iophyceae]. 



In the spring time these localities are exceedingly moist; 

 then this vegetation does live; during our stay the proper mel- 



