PREFACE. 



IT was mentioned in the preface to the "Botany of the Faeroes" (Co- 

 penhagen & London, 1901 — 1908) that, on the completion of that 

 work, Iceland would be the one island among the dependencies of the 

 Danish kingdom in the Atlantic which was in most need of a thorough 

 and systematic investigation as regards its botany, and the hope was 

 expressed that this would be commenced as early as the year 1909. 

 This hope has been so far realized that we, the undersigned, are now 

 able to publish the first paper on the subject, viz. "The Marine Algal 

 Vegetation" by Dr. Helgi Jonsson of Reykjavik. Iceland, however, is 

 so large compared with the Fseroes that the investigation will not only 

 be far more difficult to carry out, but will also extend over a far longer 

 period. 



We hope that specialists in botany may be able, at short intervals, 

 to visit the island and make collections and notes. Thus, even in 1910 

 a young bryologist, A. Hesselbo, studied the moss -vegetation — when 

 he took the photographs, published in the present paper — and this 

 summer he is again paying a visit to the island, after which he will 

 prepare an account of the moss-flora and the moss- vegetation of Iceland. 



Next summer we hope that a young lichenologist will be able to 

 set to work in a similar manner, and will be followed by others, until 

 the work can be completed with a general account of the vegetation and 

 the plant-geographical position of the island. 



L. KOLDERUP ROSENVINGE. 



COPENHAGEN, Aug. 1912. 



EUG. WARMING. 



