Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - Some remarks upon the geographical distribution of vegetation in the colder Southern Hemisphere. By Carl Skottsberg. Botanist of the Swedish Antarctic Expedition 1901—1903. With 2 maps, tabl. 8 and 9.
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CARL SKOTTSBERG.
separated from it. It seems strange that Engler does not mention
at all the south polar continent, though such important discoveries
as the comparatively rich flora brought back by the Belgian
Expedition had already been partly published.
It is somewhat unfortunate that such countries as Fuegia, the
Falklands, etc. were ever entitled »antarctic». Since the scientific
world has begun to try to lift the veil covering the Terra Australis,
with renewed efforts and also with much success, we now are able
to judge about the flora and fauna of this vast land; and it stands
to reason that the biologists should speak of an antarctic flora and fauna
in the countries which are designated as antarctic by the geographers.
In short, we must distinguish the antarctic dominion from the austral
lands of Engler, as I have already proposed (36). This is quite
in concordance with the opinion of at least some zoologists, for
instance Vanhoffen (42, p. 363-64): »die Fauna der Tiefsee gehört
ebensowenig dazu (to the antarctic) wie die Fauna der durch die
Tiefsee vom antarktischen Kontinent getrennten Inseln.» Then
there arises a second question: How are we to define the antarctic
zone geographically? In answering this question, I will only refer
to two works, Fricker’s (20) and Balch’s (3).
Pointing out the impossibility of using the mathematic line of
the antarctic circle as a limit, Fricker proposes the limit of drifting
sea-ice (not icebergs), p. 2. In this case, all the formerly so called
antarctic islands will be excluded, excepting South Georgia and
Bouvet Island, round which the extreme ring of pack-ice is drawn
on Fricker’s map. Balch’s boundary differs a little from this. From
p. ii -12 we learn that »it seems as if Bouvet and Kerguelen
Islands and South Georgia, owing to many reasons, such as their fauna,
their climate and their physical characteristics belonged to the
’Antarctic7 proper.»
Of course the antarctic circle cannot be utilized as a biological
limit, and one notes with surprise the classification of the fishes of
the Belgica-Expedition given by Dollo (46): »poissons antarctiques,
capturés à l’intérieur du cercle antarctique, et poissons
subantarctiques recueillis entre le cercle polaire antarctique et l’isotherme de
45° F.» A glance at a map will instantly show the impossibility
of this division.
As to the employment of the pack-ice ring as a limit, we must
exclude South Georgia and possibly the South Sandwiches too.
For there is no doubt about South Georgia being nearly related
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