32 DR, DTCKIE ON PLANTS FROM LANCASTER SOUND, 



formance, and in doing so observes a regular order : the longer 

 and larger stamens go first, and the shorter and smaller ones 

 proceed afterwards. It may be of interest to notice that the 

 stigma is not always receptive when the first fully-developed 



anthers begin to discharge. 



Notes on a Collection of Plants from the North-east Shore of 



Lancaster Sound. By G- Dice^e, M.D., F.L.S. 



[Ecad November 19, 1868.] 



In March 1865 'The Queen/ of Peterhead, commanded by 

 Captain G, Brown, sailed under orders to pass the winter in some 

 part of the Arctic Sea, at the discretion of the commander, in 

 order to capture whales late in autumn and early in spring. 

 Captain Brown determined to winter somewhere in the vicinity of 

 Lancaster Sound, near the '^ north water " of the whalers. 



Afi;er various detentions owiug to winds and the state of the ice, 

 the vessel was, on the last day of August, laid up for the winter m 

 a deep inlet called in the charts " Bethune Bay," about thirty 

 miles from Cape Horsburgh, which bears E.N.E. from it ; the 

 harbour is in N. lat. 74° 44' 24", W. long. 76°. 



An Aberdeen student, Dr. E. P. Philpotts, had medical charge 

 of the expedition ; and to him I am indebted for the materials 

 which form the subject of the following notes. 



Explorations by Captain Brown and Dr. Philpotts proved that 

 the laud represented in the most recent maps as a peninsula is 

 in reality an island, the eastmost point of which is Cape Hors- 

 burgh. This island is separated from the mainland by a channel 

 full of icebergs ; the channel on the west is narrow and shallow, its 

 eastern margin being the shore of the said island, and its western 

 an extensive glacier attached to the mainland, and forming a sea- 

 cliff of solid ice. 



The island is about thirty miles long, by ten in breadth ; the 

 centre is a swampy plain, with numerous streams and lakes, inter- 

 spersed with ranges of low hills. 



On various parts of this inhospitable shore Dr. Philpotts was 

 very assiduous in making collections, from the end of June to the 

 5th August, 18G6, on which day the ^ Queen ' got free from the 

 ice and proceeded southwards*. 



* A very full and interesting account of the voyage was published by D^* 

 Philpotts in the 'Peterhead Sentinel,* and afterwards printed for private dis- 

 tribution. 



