86 CARL SKOTTSBERG, A BOTANICAL SURVEY OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS. 



type as that of the Falklands; the rainfall is equally distributed, there is always 

 less in the spring and early summer and more in the autumn, and as to the snow, 

 just the same conditions as in the Falklands seem to prevail. Further, also in Bergen 

 the rainfall is connected with the occurrence of certain winds, in this case S. That 

 there is much more, up to four times as much rain as in the Falklands, does not 

 affect anything that has been said here. The temperatures also show great resem- 

 blance, but are generally higher. Taken as whole, it is evident that the coastal 

 region of Norway in the district of Bergen has the same kind of climate and also 

 the same kind of vegetation as the Falkland Islands. 



It seems certain, that the vegetation in the Falklands is related physiognomi- 

 cally to that of the islands in the North Atlantic, as the Fseröes, described by 

 OsTENFELD in PlantevsBxten paa FserDerne, Copenhagen 1906. The climate seems to 

 be of exactly the same type, and so is probably the heath, and Ostenfeld writes, 

 that it bears greater resemblance to the heath of the Norwegian west coast than 

 to any other. There is however, no association exactly corresponding with the 

 CortocZerm-association. Much in the descriptions of Scottish vegetation cannot fail 

 to remember the reader of the Falkland Islands, thus the Hill pastures, Grass asso- 

 ciations and Heather association described from the subalpine or subarctic region in 

 Edinburgh and North Perthshire districts by Robert Smith (Scottish Geogr. Magaz. 

 1900). And the same may be said of the Moorland plant formation, »the dominant 

 stable formation in Caithness», so skilfully treated by C. B. Crampton (The vegeta- 

 tion of Caithness considered in relation to the geology; published under the auspices 

 of the committee for the survey and study of British vegetation. Edinburgh 1911). 



Consequently, I have gained the opinion, that in the Atlantic heath and moor- 

 land formations we have to look for the equivalents in the Northern hemisphere of 

 Subantarctic oceanic vegetation, a fact not at all likely to cause surprise. 



In an archipelago of such an extension as the Falkland one, certain differences 

 in the climate between different parts could be expected, especially if we remember 

 how greatl}^ it changes from W to E in the extreme soutli of America. In the latter 

 case, the Andes account for the difference as making the plains of Patagonia and 

 northeastern Fuegia dry; in the former there is certainly no such topographical 

 factor of immense importance as the American Cordillera, but still one would be 

 inclined to tliink — the predominant westerly winds taken into consideration — that 

 one might be able to trace a change in the climate as one advances east. The 

 following list shows that there is a shght difference in the floras of East and West 

 Falklands. 



1. Species only known from West Falklands: 



Adiantnm chiloise Cystopteris fraglUs Glciclienia cryptocarpa 



Asplenium magellanicum Dri/optcris fllix mas Hi/menophyllum tortuosum 



Blechnum chilense » spinulosa Polystichum adiantiforme. 



