ANNUAL OF SCIKNTIFIO DISCOVERY. 



era now living in our forests, of which the first two existed on the continent 

 of Europe during the tertiary ages, but are not now known there. Dr. 

 Newbcrrv concluded by saying that the aspects of nature, as far as vegeta- 

 tion is concerned, on our continent, are of an antique type, and that the 

 plants, as was the case with many of the fishes, were old-fashioned forms. 

 The climate of the United S.ates, as indicated by these plants, had been, 

 through the cretaceous epoch, temperate, and much as now; but during the 

 tertiary it had been slightly warmer than at present, but still temperate, and 

 cooler than the climate of Europe at the same epoch. 



m 



NOTES ON THE ARCTIC FLORA. 



The following notes on the " Arctic Flora," founded on two voyages to 

 the shores of Davis' Straits, have been presented to the British Association 

 by Mr. Taylor: 



From seventy-two to seventy-four degrees north, on the east or Green- 

 land side, the coast is rocky and precipitous. Along this coast also there arc 

 numerous islands, more or less conical in form, which also present precipitous 

 cliffs. The land in the interior consists of a complicated system of ravines 

 and mountain ranges, the former usually occupied by glaciers; between sev- 

 enty-four degrees and Cape York the surface seems to present an extensive 

 mer de ylitce. The original soil varies in its nature, having often more or less 

 peat on the surface. 



The land on the west or American side of the strait presents an extensive 

 plain along the sea border, the mountains in the interior being fewer than on 

 the east side, but apparently higher. This land is also destitute of glaciers, and 

 its sea free from icebergs; any which occur have been drifted from another 

 quarter. In the interior there are mountains, plains, and numerous lakes. 



The east side is sooner clear of snow than the west side, just as that border 

 of the strait is soonest clear of ice. On the land the snow first disappears in 

 a zone fifty to one hundred feet above the sea, extending thence upward and 

 downward. 



The flora is on the whole rich and varied ; about one hundred and fourteen 

 species of plants were collected (a list was given), belonging to twenty-four 

 natural orders, in the proportion of seventy Dicotyledons to thirty-eight Mo- 

 nocotyledons, and in addition three Ferns, two Lycopodiums, and one Equi- 

 setum, besides numerous Mosses and Lichens. Saxifraga oppositifolia and 

 S.alix herbacca were the first seen in flower, the former in March, the latter al tout 

 the end of May; the species of Ranunculus and Papaver nudicanle are among 

 the latest ; Saxifraga Hirculus is also late, flowering in the middle of August. 

 Ranunculus sulphnreus and Papaver. nudicanle burst through a covering of 

 snow at the time of flowering. On many species the matiire fruit is perfectly 

 preserved under the snow during the long winter, and thus different birds 

 find abundance of food in spring; the natives also avail themselves of the 

 same supply. The buds on the peduncle of Polygonium viviparum are 

 greedily devoured by the Ptarmigan and Snowflake. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE PLANTS WHICH, BY THEIR GROWTH AND 

 DECOMPOSITION, FORM THE PRINCIPAL PART OF THE IRISH 

 TURF-BOGS. 



In a paper on the above subject, read before the British Association by 

 Mr. D. Moore, the author observed (hat, although much has been written on 



