PER SRE 
28 REVUE BRYOLOGIQUE 
_ along the shore of the lake and for several miles southward con- 
_ sists of undulating birch forest, intermingled with numerous pools 
or lakelets, or, where these have become filled up, with peat bogs 
and marshes. ns _ 
Bryologically considered, the country divided itself roughly 
into three regions ;.(a) the higher or alpine ground above the tree 
limit; (b) the low-lying birch forest with its pools and bogs ; (c)* 
the river ravines. Of the first of these circumstances did not per- 
: mit of any extended exploration ; but while a visit to the moun- 
_ tains of Somaslaki and Pallimtjakko proved unproductive, a few 
hours upon higher ground near the snow limit on Vassitjakko 
certainly gave promise of a more interesting, though perhaps not 
exceedingly rich bryological flora ; especially with regard to the 
-_ Hepaticæ, as the list which M" Nicholson has sent me, indicates. 
: The birch forest proved decidedly poor, even with the inclusion 
_ of the peat bogs. The Sphagna did not appear Lo be at all richly 
represented; and the bulk of the moss vegetation of the bogs 
seemed to consist of the ordinary paludal species of moderately 
boreal regions; Paludella, Campiothecium nitens, Harpidia, 
Thuidium Blandovii, Cinclidium stygium, Mnium affine var. 
_elatum, ele., etc. One striking feature was the abundance in the 
_drier peat bogs of Catoscopium nigritum. In one spot near the 
Torneà Träsk we saw considerable tracts rendered quite brown 
by the minute capsules of this moss. 
The river beds, at least where channelled out of the rock, 
afforded the best ground, the Koppajokk at and above Bjorkliden 
_ and the Abisko canon proving very productive ; indeed by far the 
_ most interesting of our gatherings took place within a kilometer 
__of the Tourist Hut, 
The surface soil about Abisko is a fine sand, which when newly 
turned up produced à characteristie moss flora of various Brya, : 
Funaria hygrometrica var. arctica, Pogonatum capillare, Tortula 
_ brevirostris, Dicranella crispa, Trichodon, ete. The rocks of the 
 ravine, as mentioned above, consisted for the most part at least 
- Of a rather friable limestone; but at the higher altitudes the 
rocks were mostly primitive, hard and unproductive, though on 
“Vassitjakko a rich vein of iron yielding Mielichoferia and several 
 Grimmias made a welcome change. ane 
The general character of the moss flora appeared to be some- 
_ what intermediate between the rich boreal Scandinavian flora 
and the true arctie or circumpolar type. The former however 
_distinctly predominated, truly arelic forms such as Cinclidium arcti- 
cum, Dicranum angustum, Funaria hygrometrica var. arctica, 
