THE FLOWERING PLANTS OF NOVAYA ZEMLYA, ETC. 389 



The botanical literature relating to Nova}^^ Zemlya, Waigats, 

 and the shores of Yugor Straits is extensive. It commences with 

 the researches of the celebrated Von Baer in 1837, and has been 

 continued by many eminent botanists to the present time. Few 

 arctic lands have received greater attention from distinguished 

 botanists than Novaya Zemlya. We may, I think, conclude that 

 our knowledge of the species that compose its phanerogamic 

 vegetation is practically complete. Further investigations may 

 add a few species to the list, and will of course increase our 

 acquaintance with the geographical range of species in the North 

 Island. 



It is, however, tolerably well accepted that the arctic flora is 

 divided into three groups — Asiatic, European, and American — that 

 differ shghtly from one another, and the limits of these groups are well 

 known. There is, however, a point in connection with the dispersal and 

 spread of these groups over the polar area deserving of consideration, 

 and one which I shall refer to subsequently in greater detail. Is 

 the generally accepted assumption correct that during the so-called 

 glacial epoch an ice-cap over the polar area obliterated phanerogamic 

 and all other vegetation, and that the entire present polar flora is 

 due to subsequent immigration from the south ? It appears to me 

 that there is evidence at our command which may induce us to 

 pause before accepting this theory as an unquestionable fact, and 

 there certainly are peculiarities in the distribution of the existing 

 polar flora that point to the survival and subsequent extension of 

 what may be called a palsearctic flora. The already recorded spe- 

 cies of phanerogamic plants and vascular cryptogams from Novaya 

 Zemlya and Waigats amount to about 200 ; my collections of 1895 

 and 1897 embrace about five-sixths of that flora. Of these only 

 seven are additions ; they are — 



Ranunculus auricomus L. Empetrum nigrum L. 



Alsi7ie imhricata C. A. M. Veratrum album L. 



Potent ilia nivea L. Koeleria cristata Gaud. 

 Gentiana tejiella Fr. 



I have included in this paper a series of field notes, giving some 

 information in regard to distribution, relative abundance, and other 

 particulars about the various plants met with, and also a brief 

 sketch of the topographical features of the different islands and 

 places visited. 



It is my pleasant duty to render sincere thanks to several 

 distinguished botanists for the assistance given me in identifying 

 my arctic collections of 1895 and 1897, which amounted to several 

 thousand specimens. Especially to Professor Eugene Warming, 

 and Mr. 0. Gelert, of the Eoyal Botanical Museum, Copenhagen ; 

 to Mr. Theodor Holm, the botanist to the Danish " Dijmphna " 

 Expedition ; to Mr. Arthur Bennett, Mr. H. D. Geldart, and to Mr. 

 H. Chichester Hart, my colleague in the British Polar Expedition 

 of 1875-76 ; to the members of the staff of the Department of 

 Botany, British Museum, and of the Kew Herbarium, especially to 

 Mr. I. H. Burkiil, who examined the whole of my plants. 



