A LIST OF PLANTS, 



COLLECTED IN 



MELVILLE ISLAND. 



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botanical 



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THE following list of the Plants observed in Melville Island, chiefly in the vicinity 

 of Winter Harbour, is drawn up from the Herbaria of Captain Sabine, Mr. Edwards, 

 Mr. James Ross, Captain Parry, Mr. Fisher, and Mr. Beverley, whose names arc here 

 given in the order of the extent of their collections. 



To Captain Parry, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Ross, and Mr. Fisher, I am indebted for complete 

 series of specimens of their respective collections; and I have to offer my acknowledgments 

 to Captain Sabine for having allowed me freely to examine his more extensive herbarium, 

 and to retain it until he was about to leave England, in October. \H'.l\, when the whole, in 

 compliance with his rc(|iiest, was returned to him. 



The delay that has taken place in the publication of the present account has been, in 

 part, owing to the state of my health during a considerable portion of the time that 

 has elapsed since the collections were placed in my hands. I have also experienced much 

 greater difficulty than I had anticipated in determining many of the species; arising 

 either from their extremely variable nature, from the incomplete state of the specimens 

 contained in the collections, or from the want of authentic specimens of other countries, 

 with which it was necessary to compare them. I may notice, likewise, as a third cause 

 of the delay, the greater extent of my original plan, which included remarks on the 

 state and relative proportions of the primary divisions and natural orders contained in 

 the list; a comparison with the vegetation of regions of nearly similar climates; and 

 observations on the range of those species common to Melville Island and other parts 

 of the world. Towards the completion of this plan I had made considerable progress. 



