A: KJELLMAN, THE ALG OF THE ARCTIC SEA. 
such a mass of ice cannot certainly be withstood by alge. And it ought to be re- 
marked that the eastern shores of that inconsiderable group of isles which is situated 
in the western mouth of the strait, were altogether without litoral alew, while such 
plants were found to grow, although in little number, on the western shores, which 
were evidently less exposed to drift-ice. 
The height of the tide is comparatively small in the Arctic Sea, and it is, more- 
over, so equal in general in different parts of it, that even if the influence of the tidal 
currents were another and a more powerful one than I have tried to show above, the 
existing difference in the height of the tide cannot be considered as having contributed 
essentially to the existing difference in the physiognomy of the vegetation within larger 
tracts of the Arctic Sea proper, that is to say, that sea which abounds in drift-ice 
during summer. In the eastern part of the Siberian Sea and in the western part of 
the American Arctic Sea the tides are scarcely perceptible. According to researches 
made during the voyage of the Vega, the flood-tide at the wintering place Pitlekay *) is 
only 18 em. At Point Barrow, according to Markham *), it is only 7 inches. In the 
eastern part of the American Arctic Sea it is somewhat higher: on the south coast of 
Melville Island in Winter Harbour it averages 2 f. 63 i. in May, 2 f. 71. in June, and 
2 f. 841. in July *). On the east coast of Greenland, at Sabine Island, according to 
the observations of the second German Polar expedition, the height of the spring-tide 
is on an average 4,21 Engl. feet, that of the neap-tide 1,86 *). At Spitzbergen, according 
to Duner and Norprnskiotp, the spring-tide is 5—6 f., the neap-tide 3 f.>). SPORER 
states the flood-tide to rise 2—3 f. on the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, about 1 f. 4 1. 
on the east coast ®). In the south-western part of Baffin Bay the height of the tide is 
very considerable, about 30 feet’), if the statements made to Dicxm are indeed reliable. 
If such is the case, this tide ought to influence the general character of the vegetation 
in a remarkable degree. 
The nature of the bottom. Whether the chemical composition of the bottom exer- 
cises any influence on the marine vegetation or not, is a question that still remains 
unanswered, and, in my opinion, it cannot be answered by means of the material 
which we have at our disposition at present. But it is certain and undeniable that 
the growth of marine alge, their distribution, richness, variety, and luxuriancy, are 
essentially connected with and dependent on the physical nature of the bottom. There 
are tracts of the bottom whose structure is such that alge do not grow and cannot 
grow there, however favourable the other conditions may be, while, on the other hand, 
others are clothed with a rich and luxuriant vegetation, although the physical circum- 
stances are in other respects as unfavourable as possible for the development of a richer 
Flora. Wherever the bottom is very loose, i. e. formed of mud, sand, and clay, alge 
1) See NorpgENSKIOLD, Vega-exp. 1. p. 76. 
2) Markuam, Threshold, p. 221—222. 
3) See Parry, Zweite Reise, p. 375. 
4) See Kotprwey, Zweite deutsche Polarf. 2. p. 658. 
5) Dunbr, NoRbDENSKIOLD, Spetsb. geogr. p. 11. 
6) Sporer, Nov. Semla, p. 57— 58. 
7) Dicxin, Alg. Cumberl. p. 236. 
