100 H. G. SIMMONS. [sec. arct. exp. fram 



the plant seems also to be very variable under different conditions of 

 life, it must first be cultivated before the value of the different forms 

 can be decided upon. Studied from herbarium specimens, or in their 

 habitat, they seem to merge into each other without distinct limits, the 

 form of the leaves, the depth of their incisions, the hairiness, the size 

 and colour of the flower, tlie shape of the petals are all variable. It is 

 most flourishing in the rich slopes (the "Urteli" of Warmlng) and still 

 more in rookeries and in the old Eskimo settlements, whereas in sandy 

 plains, only stunted individuals are met with. The larger and more 

 flourishing the tufts are, the more are the leaves incised, in dry places 

 the leaves may become almost entire. In wet clay plains there is also 

 a small form to be found, which is moreover distinguished by its rather 

 small pale yellowish, or even quite white, flowers. As far as can be 

 judged from specimens in the Nat. Hist. Mus., now put to P. radicatum, 

 collected by Hart at Discovery Harbour, this must be his "P. alpinum 

 var." (1. c, p. 24), about which he writes: "the petals are -often pale 

 yellow, and occasionally white, and the hairs on the peduncle more ad- 

 pressed. It was to be met with only at low levels and upon an in- 

 organic soil, and its petals did not wither to a verdigris green as much 

 as in the last variety". ("P. nudicaule'). I have also observed that the 

 hairs of the flower-stalk are more adpressed in this form than in the 

 big one of the richer soil, but as I got the impression that the distinguish- 

 ing marks are not constant, I think it better not to establish a species 

 but only a variety, which I will call var. Hartianutn, n. var., in honour 

 of its first discoverer. Among the typical forms of P. radicatum, there 

 were also found in rather many places, individuals of a f. schizopetala, 

 with more or less deeply incised petals; sometimes they were even cleft 

 to the middle in many narrow lobes. It was, however, continually con- 

 nected with the main form. The shape of the petals also would vary 

 from almost broadly linear to rounded triangular, and their length from 

 the same as that of the ovary, to the double of it. The colour varied 

 from saffron, which was the rarest colour, to pure white, generally they 

 were sulphureous. 



The flowering-time begins about the middle of June and lasts to the 

 setting in of the winter frost. Fruit and seed well developed. 



Occurrence. North coast: Cape Alexandra, Ward Hunt Island, 

 Gape Joseph Henry, Floeberg Beach (Hart). Grinnell Land: Shift Rudder 

 Bay, Discovery Harbour (Hart, Greely), stations along the coast to 

 Princess Marie Bay (Hart), Hayes Sound region, common; specimens 

 from: Twin Glacier Valley (889), Lastraea Valley (887), Eskimopolis (844), 



