6 E. LÖNNBERG, CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FAUNA OF SOUTH GEORGIA. 



ing strong but mild western »föhn»-winds. ' »On the southwestern coast of the is- 

 land the ground might be covered with snow the whole year, and the glaciers are 

 there greater and the temperature lower. » 



»Westerly winds prevail and the strength of the wind is usually great, storms 

 occurring very often. » 



It is evident that the terrestrial organic Hfe cannot be very rich in such a 

 climate. The German Expedition found 13 species of phanerogamous plants and the 

 Swedish Expedition added two more species to that number. The botanist of the 

 latter expedition Dr. C. Skottsberg has given a short but very characteristic sketch 

 of the land and its flora 2 from which may be quoted some passages. »South Geor- 

 gia is a very high ridge, rising very steeply out of the ocean. The mountains, in 

 general highly inaccessible, rise to heights of more than 6,000 feet. Great masses of 

 ice occupy väst areas; mighty glaciers opeh out into the fiords, and hanging glaciers 

 are often met with a short distance from the coast. Glacier rivers and brooks from 

 perpetual snowfields are to be found every where, exercising a great influence on 

 the distribution of plants. The lowland occupies a very small area, and is broken 

 by steep ridges into narrow valleys, opening on a level beach covered by sand and 

 pebbles. On these shores and these valleys we find the vegetation of South Geor- 

 gia. Besides that, the coast is extremely steep, having a very poor vegetation.» 

 The most characteristic plant is the tussock-grass (Poa ccesjritosa) which on favourable 

 places »reaches a height of 3 to 5 feet», and is not only confined to the coast land 

 and the glens but extends up on the surrounding mountains to an altitude of 800 

 950 feet. It avoids moist ground. Where the tussock does not grow and it is not 

 too wet Phleum alpinum and Festuca erecta form meadows. In moister places Aira 

 antarctica »is an important component. » Two species af A ccena are found in different 

 localities and constitute with their red flowerheads the most conspicuous elements 

 among the flowering plants of this island. Four species of ferns only are known, 

 but the mosses are very plentiful. Skottsberg estimates their number of species to 

 78, many of these as well as of the liverworts being endemic. »Mosses and lichens 

 play a very important part in the meadows», Skottsberg says, and on the mountains 

 they become more and more dominating, and above 1500 feet they alone represent 

 the plant life. 



The vegetation of the sea is by far richer than that of the land. The giant 

 Macrocystis forms a dense submarine forest along the coast and »amongst the kelp 

 Ii ve a lot of different alga?, both brown, red and green» — — — . 



The fauna is still more exclusively bound to the sea than the flora. There is 

 no endemic terrestrial mammal but a rat has accidentally been introduced by man. 

 The mammaJs of the South Georgian fauna are marine, and if they go ashore, as 

 the seals do, it is only to rest or for breeding purposes. The sea furnishes them 

 with all their food. And so it does more or less directly with the birds, as well, at 



' In May 1902 the Swedish Expedition found the land round Cumberland Buy almost free from snow 

 but when it left the ground was covered by more than 3 feet of snow. 

 2 The Geographic Journal Vol. XX, p. 498. London 1902. 



