1898—1902. No. 16.] FLOW. PLANTS AND FERNS OF N.-W. GREENLAND. 7) 
So far as can be gathered from the literature at present available, 
there are hardly any deposits of an extent worth noting, that are due 
to glacial action in former times. Indeed, there are very few indications 
from which an opinion may be formed, especially concerning the north- 
ern parts of our area; but I think I may be allowed to conclude from 
them, that the same holds true for this region as Scuer says in his 
Prel. Rep. Geol., p. 9, about Ellesmereland: “there are no materials lying 
on those parts of the country that are not now glaciated that could, with 
any probability, be considered to result from the action of glaciers.” 
Indeed, the map showing the extent of glaciation in America, which 
accompanies chapter XLI in Grrxre, The Great Ice Age, Ed. 3, gives the 
north-western part of the land a complete covering of ice. I am at a 
loss to understand why the author of that chapter, Professor T. C. CHam- 
BERLIN, has presumed that the inland ice has reached so far, the more 
so as he has not drawn the entire Arctic Archipelago ice-covered, as it 
is in older maps. It would, of course, be of no small interest to know 
if such an ice sheet ever existed, as then every species of the present 
flora must have immigrated in post-glacial time. I am most inclined 
to think, indeed, that hardly any higher plants have lived there during 
the maximum of glaciation, but still I look upon the existence of ice- 
free land as probable, even if perhaps much larger glaciers have pro- 
truded into the fjords. The geological map of Dawson gives no enlight- 
enment about the existence of glacial deposits, and no geological explor- 
ation has been made north of Smith Sound since the time of the Nares 
expedition. 
About the present extension of the ice-sheet also, there are different 
statements. The new danish map shows in several points the ice-border 
further west than, for instance, it is shown in the english Admiralty 
Chart and the maps from which that is compiled. In all probability, how- 
ever, the ice-free land in most parts of N. W. Greenland is rather broad, 
and consequently affords room for the development of vegetation inland 
also. As to the approximate extent of the ice-free, habitable land, it is, 
of course, impossible to form an opinion at present. 
Another factor of great importance is to be found in the climate 
of the region and especially in the amount of yearly precipitation. Con- 
cerning this, however, there is but little to be found in the existing 
literature. The results obtained in the adjacent Ellesmereland by the 
expeditions of Nares, GreeLy and ourselves may, however, together 
with what is to be found in the publications about the voyages of Kane, 
Haves and Hatt, enable us to form the conclusion that the amount of 
