Proceedings. 45 



wine Bay, 80° 24' N. lat., the mountain-sides for more than 

 1000 ft. above the sea have a fair amount of vegetation on 

 them; and on the moss covered terraces below the bird-cHffs 

 some of the plants, such as species of Eanunculus and 

 Cochlearia, were found a foot in height. 



The Arctic zone may be divided into five regions : — The 

 Arctic Asiatic ; the Arctic European ; Greenland ; East Arctic 

 America ; West Arctic America. 



The total Arctic flora contains about 800 species; this may 

 be contrasted with the rich flora of the small tropical island of 

 New Caledonia, with over 3000 species. The great majority 

 of the Arctic flora occm's in Scandinavia, over 600 species ; 

 though a great proportion of these 600 species occur also in 

 the other Arctic regions. The numbers in the following table 

 (which, together with most of the other numbers, are taken 

 from Sir J. D. Hooker's essay) give a clear idea of the pre- 

 dominance of the Scandinavian element. Thirty species in 

 Scandinavia are Asiatic or American. 



In Arctic Asia, with 230 species, over 180 are Scandinavian. 

 W. Arct. America, 360 „ 250 „ 



E. Arct. America, 370 „ 260 



Greenland, 320 „ 294 



Although Greenland extends far to the south of the Arctic 

 Circle, it contains no temperate flora. Papavei- nudicaule, the 

 Iceland Poppy, extends furthest north of any flower that has 

 been found. 



Over 490 species of Arctic plants occur in the Alps ; 120 

 cross the Mediterranean ; 300 occur in the Himalayas ; 

 360 in North Temperate America ; 40 in Tropical America ; 

 70 in South Temperate America ; 60 in Australia and New 

 Zealand ; 40 in South Africa. 



The following British plants are characteristic of the Arctic 

 flora: — Cerastium alpinum, Silene acaulis, Sibbaldia procumbens, 

 Epilobium alpinum, Salix reticulata, Salix herbacea, Poa alpina. 



In Arctic Asia there is a marked scarcity of Monocotyledons, 

 only from 40 to 50 out of a total of about 240 Arctic species 

 being found there, and about half of these are grasses or 



