332 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June 



collector, found 23 at Melville Bay and Wolstenholme and Whale 

 Sounds, in the extreme north of Baffin's Bay (lat. 76°, 77° N.). 

 Parry, James Ross, Sabine, Beech ey, and others, together, found 

 60 species on Melville Island, and Lyall 50 on the islands north 

 of Barrow Straits and Lancaster Sound. About 80 have been 

 detected on the west shores of Baffin's Bay and Davis' Straits, 

 between Pond Bay and Home Bay. To the north of Eastern 

 Asia, again, Seemann collected only 4 species on Herald Island, 

 lat. 71|° N., the northernmost point attained in that longitude. 

 On the east coast of Greenland, Scoresby and Sabine found only 

 50 between the parallels of 70° and 75° N . ; whilst 150 inhabit 

 the west coast, between the same parallels. 



The differences between the vegetations of the various polar 

 areas seem to be to a considerable extent constant up to the 

 extreme limits of vegetation in each. Thus Ranunculus glacialis 

 and Saxifraga flagdlaris, which are all but absent in West 

 Greenland*, advance to the extreme north in East Greenland and 

 Spitzbergen. Caltha palustris, Astragalus alpinus, Oxytropis 

 Uralensis, O. nigrescens, Parrya arctica, Sieversia Possii, 

 Nardosmia corymbosa, Senecio palustris, Deschampsia ccespitosa, 

 Saxifraga Meraciifolia and S. Ilirculus, all of which are absent in 

 West Greenland, advance to Lancaster Sound and the polar 

 American islands, a very few degrees to the westward of Greenland. 



On the other hand, Lyclinis alpina, Arabis alpina, Stellaria 

 cerastioides, Potentilla tridentata, Cassiopeia Jiypnoides, Phyl- 

 lodoce taxifolia, Veronica alpina, Thymus Serphyllum, Luzula 

 spicata, and Phleum aJpinum, all advance north of 70° in West 

 Greenland, but are wholly unknown in any part of Arctic Eastern 

 America or the polar islands. 



The most arctic plants of general distribution that are found far 

 north in all the arctic areas are the following; all inhabit the 

 Parry Islands, or Spitzbergen, or both : — 



anuncuii 



nivalis. Draba hirta. Stellaria longipes. 

 muricella. Cerastium alpinum. 



auncomus. 



Potentilla nivea. 



pygmasus. incana. 



Papaver nudicaule. rupestris. — frigida. 



Cochlearia officinalis. Cochlearia anglica. Dryas octopetala. 



Braya alpina. officinalis. Epilobium latifolium. 



Cardamine bellidifolia. Silene acaulis. Sedum Rhodiola. 



pratensis. Lychnis apetala. Chrysos. alternifolium. 



Draba alpina. Arenaria verna. Saxifraga oppositifolia. 

 androsacea. arctica. caespitosa. 



Both were found by Kane's Expedition, but by no previous one. 



