THE BRYOLOGIST 
Vol. XI September 1908 No. 5 
REPORT OF THE SECOND NORWEGIAN EXPEDITION IN THE 
** FRAM ” 1898-1902. 
No. 11. Bryophyta by N. Bryhn, Kristiania, 1907. 
Per Axel Rydberg, Ph. D. 
The expedition was under the command of Capt Otto Sverdrup, a well- 
known polar explorer, and the botanist of the same was Dr. Herman G. Sim- 
mons. With a very few exceptions all the mosses were collected by the 
latter. The collection was very large, filling eight big boxes and numbering 
towards 1700 numbers of mosses alone. The report is published by the 
Society of Arts and Sciences of Kristiania, Norway, at the expense of The 
Fridtjof Nansen Fund for the Advancement of Science. It is printed in 
large octavo, on good paper and with large clear type. It contains 260 pages. 
Dr. Bryhn states in his preface that the material was not easy to work 
up. In arctic regions the forms become much changed. The dry climate 
produces a diminution of the surface; The arctic mosses also have a tend- 
ancy to produce threadlike innovations and all the leaves are usually short. 
Most of the species are found in diminutive forms which give the impression 
of starved dwarfs. Something rather extraordinary is the high coloration of 
the cell membranes of the leaves, which are yellow, red, brown or crimson, 
apparently so as to give protection against the strong light day and night 
during the short period of growth, Very few species produce fruit, in gen- 
eral only the acrocarpous mosses, especially the bisexual species of the genus 
Bryum. The fruits that had been perfected had often been damaged or 
altogether torn off. The snow-sparrow, Emberiza nivalis , is probably to 
blame for this, as according to Prof. Berggren, its food to a great extent con- 
sists of the fruits of mosses. Very few of the arctic mosses are found in 
mass or in pure growth. Usually they appear in mixed tussocks, some of 
these containing even twenty to thirty different species. It often happened 
that different species growing in the same tussock had taken upon them- 
selves the same habit so that all resembled each other, and it was only 
under the microscope that it was possible to distinguish them. 
In working up the collection Dr. Bryhn had two specialists as colabora- 
tors, viz. Mr. B. Kaalaas, in the Hepatics, and the late Mr. E. Ryan in the 
genus Bryum. The new species in these groups were published under joint 
authorship with these gentlemen. At the end of the preface is given a list of 
the most important literature used in working up the collection. 
The report proper is divided into three parts: First, an account of the 
different places visited and where collections were made, and lists of 
species gathered at each place. Second, a systematic annotated catalogue 
of the whole collection, including notes on distribution, habitat, etc., and 
The July BRYOLOGIST was issued July 2, 1908. 
