50 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 
The following collection was made here July 10: 
Pinguicula villosa, L. Lloydia seretina, Reichemb. 
Vaccinium vitis Idwa, VL. Chrysanthemum arcticum, Li. 
Spirea betulefolia, Pallas. Artemisia Tilesti, Ledeb. 
Rubus arcticus, L. Arenaria peploides, L. 
Epilobium latifolium, L. Gentiana glanca, Pallas. 
Polemonium ceevuleum, L. Elymus arenarius, L. 
Trientalis europea, L. var. arctica, Ledeb, Poa triviatis, L. 
Entrema arenicola, Hook. Carex vesicaria, L. var. alpigma, Fries. 
Tris sibirica, L. Aspidium spinulosum, Sw. 
KOTZEBUE SOUND. 
The flora of the region about the head of Kotzebue Sound is hardly less luxuriant and rich in 
species than that of other points visited by the Corwin lying several degrees farther south. Fine 
nutritious grasses suitable for the fattening of cattle and from 2 to 6 feet high are not of rare 
occurrence on meadows of considerable extent and along streambanks wherever the stagnant 
waters of the tundra have been drained off, while in similar localities the most showy of the Arctic 
plants bloom in all their freshness and beauty, manifesting no sign of frost, or unfavorable condi- 
tions of any kind whatever. 
A striking result of the airing and draining of the boggy tundra soil is shown on the ice-blufts 
around Esecholtze Bay, where it has been undermined by the melting of the ice on which it rests. 
In falling down the face of the ice-wall it is well skaken and rolled before it again comes to rest on 
terraced or gently sloping portions of the wall. The original vegetation of the tundra is thus 
destroyed, and tall grasses spring up on the fresh mellow ground as it accumulates from time to 
time, growing lush and rank, though in many places that we noted these new soil-beds are not 
more than a foot in depth, and lie on the solid ice. 
At the time of our last visit to this interesting region, about the middle of September, the 
weather was still fine, suggesting the Indian Summer of the Western States. The tundra glowed 
in the mellow sunshine with the colors of the ripe foliage of vaccinium, empetrum, arctostaphylos, 
and dwarf birch; red, purple, and yellow, in pure bright tones, while the berries, hardly less 
beantifal, were scattered everywhere as if they had been sown broadcast with a lavish hand, the 
whole blending harmoniously with the neutral tints of the furred bed of lichens and mosses on 
which the bright leaves and berries were painted, 
On several points about the sound the white spruce occurs in small compact groves within a few 
miles of the shore; and pyrola, which belongs to wooded regions, is abundant where no trees are 
now in sight, tending to show that areas of considerable extent, now treeless, were once forested. 
The plants collected are: 
Pyrola rotundifolia, Li. var. pumila, Hook. Savifraga tricuspidata, Retg. 
Arctostaphylos alpina, Spring. Trientalis europed, L. var. artica, Ledeb. 
Cassiope tetragone, Desy. Lupinus articus, Watson, 
Ledum palustre. Hedysarwum boreale, Nutt. 
Vaccinium Vitis Idwa, L. Galiwn boreale, L. 
Uliginosum, L. var. mucronata, Hender. Armeria vulgaris, Willd, var. Arctica, Cham. 
Empetrum nigrum. Allium scheenoprasum, WL. 
Potentilla, anserina, \. var. Polygonum Viviparum, L. 
hiflora, Willd. Castilleia pallida, Kunth. 
Sruticosa. Pedicularis sudetica, Willd. 
Stellaria longipes, Goldie. verticillata, Li. 
Cerastium alpinum, L. var. Behringianum. Regel Senecio palustris, Hook. 
Mertensia maritima, Derr. Salix polaris, Wahl. 
Papaver nudicale, L. Luzula hyperborea, R. Br. 
CAPE THOMPSON. 
The Cape Thompson flora is richer in species and individuals than that of any other point on 
the Arctic shores we have seen, owing no doubt mainly to the better drainage of the ground 
through the fissured frost-cracked limestone, which hereabouts is the principal rock. 
Where the hill-slopes are steepest the rock frequently occurs in loose angular masses and is 
