io8 
THE PLANT WORLD. 
by strong and cold southwest winds. These climatic features 
doubtless account for the absence of forest vegetation. 
At South Georgia (Lat. about 54 0 S.) with 38.9 in. annual 
precipitation there is a great paucity of phanerogamic species, and 
those that are found are the same as those in Fuego and the Falk¬ 
land Islands. Cryptogamic species are very numerous and mostly 
endemic. , 
The South Sandwich Islands (between Lat 55 0 and 6o° S.) 
have never been visited by scientists. 
The Antarctic zone is a cold desert zone. The summer is cold, 
the ground frozen for nearly the entire year, and the wind very 
formidable. Neither the forest nor the grass vegetation are 
dense. The richest flora is on the islet at the northwest coast of 
Louis Philippe Land. Only one phanerogam (Deschampsia 
cmtarctica, Hook.) is found, and that rarely. The mosses and 
lichens do not form a carpet, but grow only in small tufts in 
fissures or between stones. 
There is a great similarity between Antactic and Arctic species. 
Of the ocean plants the Austral algae have floating fronds, but, 
with the sole exception of Marginalia jaquinoti (Mort.), which 
floats when torn off from the bottom, types with floating fronds 
are wholly absent from the Antarctic zone. This is due to the ice 
conditions. Calcareous algae occur in large numbers. 
C. S. G. 
Transpiration in Xerophytic Leaves.— That xerophytic leaf 
structure is not always incompatible with abundant transpiration 
has been demonstrated by Joseph Y. Bergen* from a study of 
the leaves of a number of broad-leaved evergreens in the Medi¬ 
terranean region. These trees were chosen for examination be¬ 
cause their leaves are active and exposed to illumination for a 
considerable period, and because the same tree affords good ma¬ 
terial for comparative experiments, since some of the leaves are 
developed in bright sunlight, and others in deep shade. 
The sun leaves showed the usual xerophytic characters. They 
* Bergen, Joseph Y., Transpiration of Sun Leaves of Olea Europaea and 
Other Broad-Leaved Evergreens. Botanical Gazette, vol. 38: 4, Oct., 
1904. 
