Fes. 1908.] MOSSES OF PRINCE CHARLES FORELAND. 327 
entrusted to me consisted of eighteen envelopes containing 
unprepared mosses and liverworts, fourteen of them gathered 
on the 4th and 23rd to 27th August 1906, and four of them 
in 1907. Though the collection is rather a small one, it 
presents nevertheless some features of interest particularly 
in regard to the habit of the plants, some of them being 
stunted and woven together into compact, almost woody 
tufts, as for instance Dicranum elongatum and Jungermannia 
minuta. Others appear even at this high latitude in loose 
cushions growing in a luxuriance not surpassed by plants 
from much more southern regions, and this is the case even 
in species by no means characteristic of the Arctic zone, as 
for instance Oncophorus Wahlenbergii and <Aulacomniwm 
palustre. It is well known that this difference in growth 
depends not only upon the nature of the species but to a far 
greater extent upon external influences: an exposed, dry, or 
weather-beaten situation favours the formation of hard tufts, 
while a sheltered position allows the plants to develop 
freely. 
High latitudes also give their impress to the vegetation in 
another way: almost all the mosses and hepatics are found 
in a barren state. The short summer and the low tempera- 
tures are not favourable to the maturation of sexual organs, 
and in the present collection only Oncophorus Wahlenbergit is 
found with fruits ; even this species is only in the first stage 
of fructification, and it is doubtful if it reaches maturity. ~ 
In the same way, only one hepatic, Jwngermannia minuta, 
has developed perianths. AHypnum revolutum has male 
flowers and Hypnum uncinatum both male and female but no 
sign of fructification, a condition which is also met with in 
the higher mountains of Norway. Another effect of the 
severe conditions is seen in the tufts of mosses rarely being 
pure but generally containing a mixture of a number of 
species. In some cases this intimate mingling of species is 
very remarkable to one who only knows them from their 
habits in more southern latitudes and in more favourable 
circumstances. 
The collection contains nineteen species of mosses and four 
of hepatics. Among the mosses one new variety occurs, 
Hypnum uncinatum, Hedw., var. fenewm, while Dicranum 
spadiceum is a new record for Spitsbergen. 
