380 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



mander group ( i ) ; the name being very variously spelt. 

 This is little more than a list of 132 species of vascular 

 plants collected in Behring and Copper Islands, but it is 

 supplemented (2) by a brief account of the plants collected 

 in Behring Island by the " Vega " Expedition. Although 

 in no higher latitude than 55 , or the same parallel as New- 

 castle, there is no arboreous vegetation, and the shrubs 

 are few and small or stunted, being overtopped by tall 

 herbaceous plants, characteristic of the grassy plains (3) 

 of Kamtschatka. There is, perhaps, no cold country in the 

 world where herbaceous plants attain such an astonishing 

 size as in Kamtschatka, and although the insular plants 

 do not attain equally large dimensions, Kjellman states 

 that the shrubby vegetation is concealed by herbs commonly 

 as tall as a man. Conspicuous among these are : Cacalia 

 auriculata, Senecio palmatus, CirshtvikamtscJiaticwn 

 {Composite?), Conioselimim kamtschaticum, and Heracleum 

 lanatum (Umbellifera^). Species of many other genera 

 grow to an unusual size, for example : Pedicu/aris, 

 Polemonium, Sieversia, and Aconitum. Woody plants are 

 represented by Pyrus sambucifolia, Rhododendron ch?ysan- 

 thurn and Salix arctica. The plants named are character- 

 istic of the slopes towards the sea ; but the interior plateau 

 has a heath-like vegetation consisting of Bryant 'hus Gmelini, 

 Cassiope lycopodioides, Arctostaphylos alpiua, and similar 

 plants. Characteristic arctic plants are wanting, and 

 Kjellman designates the majority of the species as arctic- 

 tertiary, which probably formerly had a much wider distri- 

 bution. 



St. Lawrence, in the mouth of the straits, is another of 

 the islands botanised (4) by the " Vega " Expedition ; and 

 the flora of the Western Esquimaux-land (5) is interesting 

 for comparisons. A fragment of the tertiary flora of the 

 islands of New Siberia (6) leads the author to the conclusion 

 that they have been separated from the continent in compara- 

 tively recent times. The coniferous element predominates, 

 and associated with it is a brittle kind of amber, such as 

 occurs on the mainland. Sequoia, Dammara, Taxodium, 

 Pinus, and Cupressinoxylon are the genera recognised. 



