PROF. MARTINS : VEGETATION OF SPITZBERGEN. 137 



The geology of the western coasts has been studied by Keilhan, the 

 members of the French Commission, and more recently by M.M. ISTordens- 

 kiold and Blomstrand. Without entering into details possessing but very little 

 interest to the botanist, I may say that the mountains of Spitzbergen are in 

 general formed of crystalline rocks. The seven isles to the north of the 

 archipelago are entirely granitic, this rock forming the extreme land of the 

 north of Europe. More to the south, limestones, frequently dolomitic make 

 their appearance, belonging probably to ancient formations and traversed by 

 threads of hypersthene rock, a species of porphyry very rare, and only 

 found in Scandinavia and Labrador. In other localities we find the same 

 rocks ; but in the straits of Hinlopen and near Bell Sound a fossiliferous 

 limestone is found. From an examination of the fossils M. de Konninck 

 refers them to the Permian, a formation overlying the coal measures, and 

 deriving its name from the government of Perm in Russia. In King's Bay, 

 M. Blomstrand has found a carboniferous rock vsrhich is slightly combustible. 

 In spite of all the difficulties which the geologist must experience in studying 

 a locality covered by snow and ice, we may say, from the indications we pos- 

 sess, that Spitzbergen belongs to the oldest formations of the earth ; islands, 

 thrown up at the origin of the globe, and in which the deposits of the Jurassic 

 cretaceous, and tertiary formations are altogether absent. 



III. FLORA OF SPITZBERGEN. 



From the sketch we have given of the climate and physical constitution , 

 of Spitzbergen, the title of this chapter would almost appear a misnomer. 

 What vegetation can there be in a country covered with snow and ice, where 

 the mean temperature of summer is 1°3 (35° Fahr) that is to say inferior to 

 the month of January at Paris 1 Are there any plants capable of living and 

 propagating themselves under such conditions of soil and climate 1 Never- 

 theless on approaching Spitzbergen certain spots here and there, may be 

 discerned, which are favourably exposed and where the snow has disappeared. 

 These patches of earth scattered in the middle of the snowfields which surround 

 them, seem at first completely naked ; but a nearer approach discovers a 

 number of small microscopic plants closely pressed on the soil, hidden in 

 fissures, spread against the talus facing the south, screened by stones, or 

 hidden amongst the mosses and grey lichens wliich carpet the rocks. Humid 

 depressions, covered by larger mosses of a bright green colom', Eremodon 

 WoTinskioldii, Brid. Polytrichum alpinum, L. Bryum julaceum, Schr. 

 ^c, form an agreeable repose for the eye, tired by the blackness of the 

 rocks, and the uniform white of the snow. At the foot of the cliffs fre- 



No. 34, Sejote7nher 15. 



