KONGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLING AR. BAND. 20. N:0 5. 11 



two or three, namely Delesseria sinuofsa, of which some few, but quite fresh specimens 

 were brought up during the Swedish expedition of 1872—1873 from the depth of 85 

 fathoms north of Spitzbergen, Ptilota pectinata found at the depth of 150 fathoms in 

 Smeerenberg Bay on the north-western coast of Spitzbergen, and in 80 — 100 fathoms 

 north of Spitzbergen. Even Dichloria viridis descends here to the same considerable 

 depth. On the west coast of Novaya Zemlya the following species are known from the 

 elitoral zone: Polysiplionia arctica, Delesseria sinuosa, Euthora ciistata, and Dichloria 

 viridis ^). As I have mentioned before, Phyllophora interrupta and Polysipkonia arctica 

 were met with during the Vega expedition at one place in the Kara Sea at the depth 

 of 40 fathoms. According to Dickie, a rather considerable number of species were 

 dredged at considerable depths in Baffin Bay during one of the English Franklin ex- 

 peditions, viz. Polysipkonia nigrescens, 40 — 50 fathoms; Ptilota pectinata, 30 — 40; Dictyota 

 fasciola(?), 20 — 50; Agarum Turneri, 10 — 100; Laminaria saccliarina (probably L. cu- 

 neifolia), 50 — 100; Laminaria (Ilea) fascia, 40 — 50; Chordaria Jlagelliformis, 40 — 100; 

 Dictyosiphon foeniculaceus, 50 — 70; Desmarestia aculeata, 80 — 100; Desmarestia (Dichloria) 

 viridis, 50 — 100; Chcetopteris plvmosa, 25 — 30; Ectocarpus (Pylaiella) litoralis, 50 — 100; 

 Ectocarpus Landsburgii (Pylaiella variaf), 50 — 100; Ectocarpus Durkeeif, 70 — 80; Con- 

 ferva spec. Youngeana? i. e. Urospora penicilliformis, 25 — 30 fathoms *). The correctness 

 of these statements seems for good reasons to be rather questionable. 



Above the upper margin of the litoral zone, there are here and there on the 

 arctic coasts to be found lagoons, connected with the sea and possessing from this cause 

 a salinity that makes it possible for marine algae to flourish in them. Their vegetation 

 is sometimes very rich in individuals, but always highly monotonous, being composed 

 of one, sometimes two or three, species of Chlorophyllophycese. 



The outlines of the composition of the Flora. Formations of algce. Three families 

 may be said to dominate the vegetation of the Arctic Sea: Laminariacece, Fucacece and 

 Corallinacece. They clothe the largest tracts of the bottom, appear in dense, numeri- 

 cally strong masses, and attain a considerable degree of luxuriancy. In consequence 

 of this the other elements of the vegetation are allowed to assert themselves but little 

 in the total impression produced by the vegetation. The Laminariacese make the mightiest 

 effect. In the whole extent of the North Polar Sea, these algte are the most large- 

 sized and occur in the greatest masses and on the widest tracts. In a strict sense, the 

 Arctic Sea might be called the sea of the Laminariacese. The Fucace^ mark the ve- 

 getation of larger regions only in those parts of the Polar Sea which are not arctic or 

 at least not purely arctic: on the western coast of Greenland, in the White Sea, in the 

 most westerly portion of the Murman Sea and, above all, in the Norwegian Polar Sea. 

 In the other parts of the Arctic Sea, where they cannot appropriate the litoral region 

 to themselves, they are either wholly wanting, as is the case for inst. in the greatest 

 part of the Kara and the Siberian Seas, or else occur in so little number and so 

 scattered, that their importance as characteristic of the Flora, is none or next to 

 none. Very extensive parts of the sublitoral zone of the Arctic Sea are occupied 



') Cp. Kjellman, Algenv. Murm. Meer. p. 67. 

 2) Cp. Dickie, Alg. Sutherl. 1. p. 140—143. 



