1888-89.] the Coasts of Lapland and Siberia. 451 



recorded when we were amongst the ice-floes. Berghause 

 calculates the mean January temperature for the Yugor 

 Straits to be —20° C. 



It was very evident that, as we proceeded eastward from 

 the North Cape, the temperature of the air (consequent 

 upon that of the water) fell to a noticeable degree ; the fall 

 was rapid as we approached the coast of Novaya Zemlya 

 and the shores of the Yugor Straits, about which was 

 abundant drift ice. Signs of the (unusual) cold existed on 

 shore, where Armeria sibirica, to mention but one instance, 

 had generally its flower stalks nipped by the frost, instead of 

 developing seed as we should assume would be normal to 

 it even there. 



Although at the time of our visit to the Yugor Straits 

 there was only slight evidence of the flow so far to the 

 north-east of the warm Atlantic current, yet the extreme 

 west of Siberia and the islands of Novaya Zemlya clearly 

 gain something from its influence. 



But it is in Lapland that its effects are so remarkably 

 evident in producing a mean winter temperature which is 

 not lower than that of Chicago or of the south of Russia; 

 from the same cause, whilst in identical latitudes along the 

 shores of Greenland the summer temperature averages only 

 a degree or two above the freezing point, the shores of 

 Lapland enjoy an average of -f 8° C. to +10° C. 



The average of temperatures recorded at Troms0 and at 

 Vard0 are as follows: — 



Troms0 mean in winter — 3°"6 C; in summer -|-10°"2 C. 

 Vard0 „ -5°-5 C; „ + 8°-0 C. 



Our stay at Vard0 during the summer was of sufficient 

 duration to show us that the temperature is a conspicuously 

 even one. During five weeks the variation between the 

 recorded maximum and minimum was only from 13° C. to 

 6° C; the average for the last week in August, with pre- 

 dominantly southerly winds, was a little above 10 C. 



That we may roughly be able to compare these conditions 

 with those which obtain in our own neighbourhood, I annex 

 the following statistics, from the official reports for 1886-7: — 



Leith, mean for Nov. and Dec. 1886, = -f 4°*3 C. 

 Summer 1887, = -1-14°-3C. 



