1898-1902. No. 16.] FLOW. PLANTS AND FERNS OF N.-W. GREENLAND. 19 



to have the rich, green slopes in full view ; but it was deemed more 

 profitable to spend the time in walrus-hunting. 



The table below, which I have compiled in order to show the grad- 

 ual widening of our knowledge about the flora of the region, I have 

 thought to be of some interest; the more so, as it also gives some hints 

 concerning the results to be expected from future exploration and about 

 the different degrees of accuracy in the observations of different travellers. 

 It must, however, be kept in mind, that some places are visited only 

 during times when very little can be found; such, for instance, are Gran- 

 ville and Lafayette Bays, and Lockwood Island; but, on the other hand 

 also many places have certainly been very imperfectly explored. Judging 

 from the brilliant verdure of the slopes of Cape Alexander, I cannot 

 doubt that I should have been more than repaid, for a few hours' visit 

 there, by a list of at least 30 40 species, and a corresponding collection. 



The table does not give the numbers of species for each locality in 

 such a way as they are to be taken directly from the different lists, but 

 I have tried to make use of as many statements as possible, and have 

 entered all records that are tolerably reliable, and not too vague as to 

 the locality. If the somewhat indistinct statements of the older authors 

 had been used in a larger degree, of course the numbers, for instance, 

 for Ross, KANE, etc. would have been larger at the expense of the later 

 collectors, who have given exact records about their specimens. Such 

 indications as ,,Smith Sound stations", ,,Inglefield Gulf", etc., are of 

 course left out of consideration here, even if sometimes I have mentioned 

 them in the following statements about the occurrence of each separate 

 species. 



If the 14 species, admitted in the special treatment as doubtfull, are 

 added to the number in the table, we get a total of 122 species. When 

 NATHOKST (N. VV. Gronl.) treated the flora in 1884, he gave a list of 88 

 species to which, in his Nachtr., 4 more are added. Notwithstanding 

 the fact that I have excluded 19 (besides some for which I use other 

 names)^ the flora now reckons 16 species more or, in other words, 35 

 species have been added since then. Some of these, however, had al- 

 ready been found before NATHORST wrote his compilation, but they were 

 either wrongly determined, or were excluded by him as too doubtful to 

 insert in the list. Thus the new species are, in fact, only 29, found by 

 MEEHAN, WETHERILL, STEIN, and myself. 



As I shall have to use the numbers of species for the whole area 

 and its different parts in the following discussion about the affinity of 

 the flora, I am sorry that I have not been able to make sure, at least 



