186 LAKE SUPERIOR. 



tonia asplenifolia, &c. The Cupuliferae have disappeared; Pinus 

 rigida, also, is no longer observed, and thus vegetation continues 

 from Fabyan's to a level of two thousand and eighty feet, where 

 the pine vegetation forms the larger proportion of the features of the 

 forest. 



This height of two thousand and eighty feet is a very natural 

 level in the chain of the White Mountains, and especially on the 

 slope of Mount Washington. It indicates the horizon where the 

 slope begins to be much steeper, and where the variety of trees 

 combined in the forests is greatly reduced ; for above this level to 

 the height of four thousand three hundred and fifty feet we may say 

 that the vegetation consists entirely of Abies alba and balsamea and 

 Betula excelsa and papyracea, which grow gradually more and more 

 stunted, till at the height of four thousand three hundred and fifty 

 feet, those species even, which form tall, splendid trees one or two 

 thousand feet lower, appear here as mere shrubs, low bushes, with 

 crooked branches so interwoven as almost entirely to hedge up the 

 way, excepting in places where a bridle-path has been cut through. 



Above this level the mountain is naked, and many fine plants make 

 their appearance which remind us of the Flora of Greenland, and 

 many of which grow on the northern shores of Lake Superior, such 

 as Arenaria Grcenlandica, Vacciniuin caespitosum, uliginosurn, &c. 



The summit of the mountain, at the height of six thousand two 

 hundred and eighty feet, produces several plants which have no 

 representatives south of Labrador. Such are Andromeda hypnoides, 

 Saxifraga rivularis, Rhododendron lapponicum, Diapensia lapponica. 



Before leaving this subject I ought to make an additional remark 

 about the identity of so many plants which are common to both 

 continents. It is a general fact, that the farther north we proceed, 

 the greater is the primitive uniformity of the plants, as well as the 

 animals, in both hemispheres ; so much so, that the arctic flora and the 

 arctic fauna are identical, not only in their general character, but also 

 in almost all the species which characterize that region as a natural 

 botanical and zoological province. But there are a great many 

 plants and animals occurring in the temperate zone, which are equally 

 identical in Europe and America, and which, nevertheless, do not 



