The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1912, Page 16

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H. JÓNSSON
from the drift-ice having remained at the coast during the whole
summer of the previous year (1882), but it may also be due to the
fact that, in this case, Strömfelt went by steamer from port to
port, and could scarcely have obtained a tliorough knowledge of
the coast in as much as the steamer usually stops only a short
time at each port.
Strömfelt mentions the following algal formations: the Fucaceœ-
formation wliich is reported from Hólmanes and Seley in E. Ice-
land; the Laminaria -formation, under which a subvegetation of
red algæ is mentioned. Further, a Monostroma-\egetation is recorded
as occurring near Ekifjörður at a depth of two fathoms on a sandy
bottom, and a Halosaccion-formation at extreme low-water mark on
Hólmanes. Strömfelt expressés the opinion, moreover, that a
Corallina - formation formed by Lithothamnion -species must exist,
but he does not say anything definite regarding this point, as he
received almost all the Lithothamnion - species from the fishermen
(70, pp. 10, 11). The description of the vegetation is evidently based
on observations made in places where Strömfelt stayed for a
longer time, viz. Eskifjörður and Reyðarfjörður in E. Iceland, and
Eyrarbakki in S. Iceland. I have incorporated Strömfelt’s obser-
vations with my own in my description of the vegetation.
Strömfelt, on the other hand, treats exhaustively of the dis-
tribution of the species along the coasts. Thus he is the first to
substantiate the existence of two floral districts in the sea on the
coasts of Iceland: a cold-water flora in NE. Iceland and a warm-
water flora in SW. Iceland. In a table he gives a summary of the
distribution of the species along the coast of Iceland, and states
whether they are found in the Norwegian Polar Sea, the North
Atlantic and the Greenland Sea. He records 33 species as common
to NE. Iceland and SW. Iceland, 33 species as growing in NE. Ice-
land and absent from SW. Iceland, and 28 species as growing in the
latter district and absent from the former. Thus 66 species in all
are recorded from NE. Iceland and 61 species from SW. Iceland.
Of the species given by Strömfelt as being found in or absent
from NE. Iceland and SW. Iceland respectively, later investigations
have proved that far the greater number are common to both
places, but then, again, other species have been found wliich are
characteristic of the different districts.
My description of the algal vegetation along the coast of Ice-
land is based mainly on my own observations, and further on