se species, perhaps a couple
seldom develop any flowers. The mosses, too, were in great part
without fruit, with the exception of those which grew on the margin,
formed of hard clay covered with mud, of a pool, filled with
brackish water and lying close to the sea-margin. A large number of
pieces of driftwood scattered round this pool showed that the place
was occasionally overflowed with sea-water, which thus appears to
have been favourable to the development of the mosses. Of lichens
Dr. Almquist found a number of species, well developed, and
occurring in comparative abundance. On the contrary, the sea,
although the surrounding rocky islands indicated a good bottom for
algae, was so completely destitute of the higher algae, that only a
single microscopic species was found by Dr. Kjellman. No mammalia
were seen, not even the usual inhabitant of the desolate rocky
islands of the Polar Sea, the Polar bear, who, in regions where he
has not made acquaintance with the hunter's ball or lance, in secure
reliance on his hitherto unvanquished might, seldom neglects to
scrutinise the newly arrived guests from the tops of high rocks or
ice-blocks. We saw here only six species of birds. The first of
these that attracted our attention was the snow-bunting, which had
left the more fertile mountain heights of the south to choose this
bare and desolate island in the Arctic Ocean for its breeding-place,
and now fluttered round the stone mounds, where it had its nest,
with unceasing twitter, as if to express its satisfaction with its
choice. Further, two species of waders, _Tringa maritima_ and
_Phalaropus fulicarius_, were observed running restlessly about the
beach to collect their food, which consists of insects. The birds
that were killed often had their crops full of the remains of
insects, although living at a place where the naturalist has to
search for hours to find a dozen gnats or their equals in size, a
circumstance that tells very favourably for these birds' powers of
vision, of locomotion, and of apprehension. It is difficult in any
case to understand what it is that attracts this insectivorous bird
to one of the regions that is poorest in insect life in the whole
world. The glaucous gulls' plunderer, the skua, and its chastiser
the bold tern, were also observed, as were a few barnacle geese. On
the other hand, no eiders were met with. All the birds named
occurred only in inconsiderable numbers, and there was nothing found