Introduction. 
dim material of Lichens brought back from Ellesmere-land and 
King Oscar-Land and collected mainly by H. G. Simmons is very exten- 
sive. I think I can safely state that it is by far the best collection of this 
kind ever brought back from that part of the world. The collection has 
been separated into 1250 paper bags and a number of loose specimens. 
Some of the bags contain several portions of substratum, and these not 
unfrequently carry quite a lot of specimens and species. Every Licheno- 
logist knows how many plants may be found on a single stone. A 
rough calculation would therefore place the number of lichens in this 
collection at anything between 7,000 and 10,000. We should therefore 
get a very complete- idea of what the lichen-flora of the country visited 
by the Norwegian Expedition is like. I will endeavour to give this be- 
fore I pass on to the enumeration of the species themselves. I must 
however before doing so express my thanks to the Council of the Uni- 
versity of Manchester, which body gave me leave to pay for a substitute 
for me during part of the Session 1906—1907, and to Prof. Weiss who 
took over part of my work during that year. I was however not able 
to make the full use of this period which I had hoped. My thanks are 
also due to Miss N. Snape for kindly rendering assistance in the cutting 
of sections. 
Judging from the material which has been placed at my disposal, 
I can state that the fruticulose lichens play a very important part in the 
vegetation of Ellesmere- and King Oscar-Land. The various species 
of Cetraria evidently occur in great quantities and over large areas. 
It is mentioned by Tu. M. Fries that the larger forms of lichens were 
found in small quantities during the English Expedition 1875—1876. 
He concludes from this that the smaller kinds preponderate. But I do 
not think that this is really the case. 
