148 K. E. von Baer^s description of 



cies from Greenland^ and amongst these even several butter- 

 flies, and Scoresby has added to them some few new species 

 from East Greenland. But West Greenland, which in com- 

 mon life has been considered as the type of all northernmost 

 countries, from its having already been known for a longer 

 time through the Moravian missionaries, must, especially in 

 its southern districts, be a more highly favoured country, for 

 it has (even if we pay no attention to the old fabulous ac- 

 counts) at the present time, under 61° N. latitude, birch trees 

 from 12 to 18 feet high, and of the thickness of a man^s 

 thigh, and among these mountain ash. (Egede, Account of 

 the Greenland Mission, p. 78.) Egede found the corn, which 

 he had sown as an experiment under the 64° of latitude, not 

 only in ear but already with small grains on the 13th of 

 September [Ibid, p. 106 and 112). Things therefore wear a 

 very different appearance from those in Nova Zembla, and the 

 meteorological observations show sufficiently that it is much 

 warmer there. But even regions which enjoy a much lower 

 mean yearly temperature than Nova Zembla are much richer 

 in animal life, if the summer do but develope more heat. To 

 select a less known example I will refer to Nyshne-Kolymsk, 

 with a mean temperature of 10° C. According to Wrangell's 

 observations the boundary of the lofty woods is not far off, and 

 perhaps they would extend to this place were it not for the 

 nearness of the coast, for at Nyshne-Kolymsk there are stunted 

 Siberian cedars and bushes in plenty. During the short sum- 

 mer there the gnats are an intolerable plague. 



The coast of Nova Zembla is rendered far more lively than 

 the interior of the country by the sea-birds which make their 

 nests there. Their number and variety is indeed not so great 

 as upon the Norwegian coast or some isles and cliffs of Iceland, 

 but even here one finds the coast thickly filled with them in 

 some spots, and they receive any one who approaches with 

 loud cries. Above all, the Foolish Guillemot ( Uria Troile)^ which 

 is perhaps as numerous as all the other birds put together, 

 dwells in such colonies, sitting in thick troops and in many 

 rows one above another upon the scarcely perceptible shelves 

 of perpendicular rocks: they rouse themselves when anyone ap- 

 proaches, and cause the sides of the dark rock to appear spotted 



