817 



oes, the immigration of alg?e from there is prol)ahly of but small 

 importance. It is probable, however, that the Faeroese species of a 

 more northern distribution e. g. Halosaccion ramentaceiim and Plilold 

 pectinata, wliich are distributed more specially in the northernmost 

 part of the islands have been carried this way to the Faeroes. 



It is my opinion therefore that 1) circumstances are some- 

 what favourable to marine algae being carried across 

 and over the sea to the Faeroes from the west and north 

 coasts of Ireland, from the west coast of Scotland, from 

 the Hebrides, etc., 2) that algae can possibly be carried 

 from the west coast of Norway, and 3) that algae can very 

 well be introduced from East Iceland (probably also from 

 other parts of this island). 



Having thus discussed the possibility, that objects floating in 

 the sea can be carried to the Faeroes from the coasts of the ad- 

 jacent countries, when circumstances are favourable, w^e may en- 

 quire into what enables the algae to float for a long time in 

 the sea. One reason is, that they are in themselves able to 

 float for a long while; another, that they are attached to floating 

 timber, etc. 



As to the first reason, there are not a few algae, especially lit- 

 toral algae, with air-bladders or with a thallus partly inflated with 

 air^, which keep them on the surface of the water for some length 

 of time. Almost everywhere in the sea one can meet with floating 

 seaweed (comp. the above-mentioned observation made b}' Gran) 

 often far from their habitats. Kj ell man says (48, p. 73), that he 

 has found AscophijUiim nodosum and Fucus vesiciilosiis floating in 

 the sea at different latitudes between Norway and Spitzbergen; and 

 on the south coast of Spitzbergen he has collected Ascophijlhim with 

 numerous Polysiphonia fastigiata. He has not found these algae fixed 

 to any substratum, but others have stated that they grow there; at 

 anv rate thev must have been carried there bv the Gulf Stream. It 



^ Of the algae from the Fieroes there are in the first place nine brown algae 

 which are either always or at any rate more or less frequently supplied with air- 

 bladders: Ascophiilhim nodosum, Fnciis vcsiciilosns, F. infhiliis, F. spiralis, Himan- 

 thalia lorea, Halidrijs siliqiiosa, Laminaria fceroensis, Scijtosiphon lomcntariiis and 

 Chorda filiim. Moreover, there are the species of Enteromorpha and perhaps a 

 few more brown and red algae. Here the Zostera must also be mentioned; it is 

 well known that its thallus floats excellently. These species, which are almost 

 all rich as to numbers, float easily, and on these different algae and Zostera there 

 often, indeed almost always, grow a great many different epiphytes and endophytes, 

 which are likewise carried about in the sea. 



