TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 101 



He particularly referred to Forbes' five floras. 1. Flora of West of Ireland. 

 2. Flora of South-west of England and South-east of Ireland. 3. Flora of South- 

 east of England. 4. Alpine flora. 5. Germanic flora. 



He then drew particular attention to the alpine flora as developed on the Scotch 

 mountains, and gave the results of a trip to Ben Lawers in August 1855. During 

 the trip, abundance of Cystopteris montana was gathered on Ben Lawers as well as on 

 Corrach Uachdar ; Pseudathyrium alpestre had been collected on Ben Lawers, Craig 

 Chailleach, Meal Ghj'rdy, and Corrach Uachdar. Pseudathyrium flexile had been 

 seen sparingly on Ben Lawers. 



Remarks on the Trunk of a Tree discovered erect as it greio, within the 

 Arctic Circle, in 15° 32' N., 92° W,, or immediately to the Northward of 

 the Narroio Strait which opens into the Wellington Sou?id. By Captain 

 Sir E. Belcher, R.N., F.R.A.S. 



Having despatched several shooting parties in quest of hares and ptarmigan, one 

 commanded by the boatswain returned about midnight, on the 12th of September, 

 1853, bringing a report that they had discovered the heel of the topgallant-mast of 

 a ship in an erect position, about one mile and a half inland ; and the carpenter's 

 mate, one of the party, asserting that it was certainly "a worked spar," of about 

 eight inches diameter, seemed to confirm this report. Such a communication, from 

 such authorities, and considered of suflacient importance to awake me, startled me 

 not a little. One point, however, was not so clear to my imagination, — it was too 

 far inland ; and, moreover, in a hollow. On the morrow I proceeded, accompanied 

 by the boatswain, armed with picks and crows, to search for and bring in this disco- 

 very. But it was not without great difficulty that it was re-discovered, snow having 

 nearly obliterated the foot-marks of the previous day. I at once perceived that it 

 was not a mast, nor a worked spar ; nor placed there by human agency. It was the 

 trunk of a tree, that had probably grown there, and flourished, but at what date 

 who would venture to determine ? At the period when whales were thrown up and 

 deposited, as we found them, at elevations of 500 to 800 feet above the present level 

 of the sea, and the land generally convulsed, and also when a much higher tem- 

 perature prevailed in these regions, this tree probably put forth its leaves, and 

 afi"orded shade from the sun. Such a change of climate just then would have been 

 peculiarly acceptable ! I directed the party which attended me to proceed at once 

 to clear away the soil, then frozen mud, and splintering at every effort like glass. 

 The stump was at length extracted, but not without being compelled eventually to 

 divide the tap root ; and collecting together the portions of soil which were imme- 

 diately in contact, and surrounding the tree, in the hope of discovering impressions 

 of leaves or cones, the whole was carefully packed in canvas, and eventually reached 

 this country. Near to the spot in question I noticed several peculiar knolls, from 

 which I was led to infer that other trees had grown there ; and I caused them to 

 be dug into. But they proved to be peat mosses, about nine inches in depth, and 

 ' on closer examination, in my cabin, proved to contain the bones of the Lemming, 

 in such extraordinary quantity, as to constitute almost a mass of bony manure. 

 Through the kindness of Dr. Hooker, the entire matter having been forwarded to 

 Sir W. Hooker at Kew, I am enabled to furnish the following interesting remarks : 

 " The piece of wood brought by Sir Edward Belcher from the shores of Wellington 

 Channel belongs to a species of pine — probably to the Pinus (Abies) alba, the most 

 northern conifer. This, the ' white spruce,' advances as far north as the 68th 

 parallel, and must be often floated down the great rivers of North America to the 

 Polar Ocean. The structure of the wood of the specimen brought home, differs 

 remarkably in its anatomical characters from that of any other conifer with which I 

 am acquainted. Each concentric ring (or annual growth) consists of two zones of 

 tissue ; one, the outer, that towards the circumference, is broader, of a pale colour, 

 and consists of ordinary tubes of fibres of wood marked with discs common to all 

 Coniferse. These discs are usually opposite one another when more than one row of 

 them occur in the direction of the length of the fibre; and, what is very unusual, 

 present radiating lines from the central depression to the circumference. Secondly, 

 the inner zone of each annual ring of wood is narrower, of a dark colour, and formed 

 of more slender woody fibres, with thicker walls in proportion to their diameter. 



