INSULAR FLORAS. 



PART III. 



IN this part I propose passing in rapid review the most 

 important botanical literature of the last decade re- 

 lating to the arctic islands, more particularly those of the 

 eastern hemisphere, and the islands of the Atlantic Ocean. 

 In succeeding articles I intend taking the West Indies and the 

 African islands of the Indian Ocean, followed by a brief ex- 

 amination and discussion of the facts and theories bearing 

 on insular floras generally, especially in relation to the new 

 lights of recent discovery and investigation. For this pur- 

 pose I am desirous of adding to the bibliography any 

 publications of moment that I may have omitted, and I 

 should be thankful to my readers for any information they 

 can give me on this point. Botanical literature has in- 

 creased so rapidly during the last ten years, and is so widely 

 scattered, that important contributions may easily be over- 

 looked, even when one has the advantage of the most 

 extensive libraries. Therefore my request. 



The bibliography alone of the botany of the islands of the 

 arctic and sub-arctic seas would fill several pages, even if we 

 only go back as far as the last British Polar Expedition. I 

 will therefore confine myself to a few of the principal publi- 

 cations in which students will find references to the less im- 

 portant ones. We are chiefly indebted to Scandinavian 

 botanists for the more complete investigation of the arctic 

 islands of the eastern hemisphere, and for some exceedingly 

 interesting discussions on the history of the arctic flora 

 generally. It is true that much of this literature deals with 

 the origin of the flora of Greenland, which hardly comes 

 within the scope of the present paper. The " Vega " 

 and "Dymphna" Expeditions were especially fruitful. 

 Among the islands to the extreme east of Asia recently 

 visited are several of the Aleutian chain, on the Asiatic 

 side of the strait, including Behring Island and two or three 

 others, known collectively as the Komandarski or Com- 



