1888-89.] the Coasts of Lapland and Siberia. 467 



Arctic regions, is there a more poverty-stricken flora than 

 exists in Siberia, it is yet quite possible there to find tracts, 

 of greater or less extent {e.g., over a well-drained, sandy soil), 

 which show an almost luxuriant turf. The country about 

 the Straits presented generally a green appearance, contrast- 

 ing with the barren, because more rocky, slopes of Lapland, 

 and affording a contrast also with the barren rocky summits 

 of our own mountains, which are, often enough with justice, 

 compared as to their vegetation with these Arctic regions. 

 Thus we may select the following plants, found in greater 

 or less abundance in one or other of these localities, which 

 are among the greatest rarities of our own mountain flora, 

 and are regarded as the relics of an Arctic vegetation which 

 in the glacial epoch covered the whole of Great Britain: — 

 Astragalus alpinus, Oxytrojns campcstris, Saxifraga rividaris, 

 S. cernua, 8. cmspitosa, Gnaphalium norvcgicwii, Phyllodoce, 

 Gentiana nivalis, Polemonium ccerideum, Myosotis alpestris, 

 Veronica alpina, Salix lanata. Allium sihiricum, Lloydia 

 serotina, Juncus filiformis, J. castaneus, J. higlumis, Luzula 

 arcuata, Carex rupestris, C. alpina, C. rarifiora, C. frigida, 

 C. pulla, Hierochloe borealis, Alopecurus alpinus, Phleum 

 alpinum, Deyeuxia strigosa and D. neglecta. Yet these are 

 not in any sense characteristic of our bare mountain sum- 

 mits ; rather are the following (at least on the tops of the 

 Eoss-shire mountains), common at an elevation of 3000 to 3500 

 feet : — Silene acaulis, Sibhaldia procumbens, Alchemilla alpina, 

 Saxifraga stellaris, Empetrum nigrum, Galium saxatile, Gna- 

 phalium supinum, Antennaria dioica, Solidago Virgaurea, 

 Hieracium alpinum, Achillea Millefolium, Vaceinium Myrtillus, 

 Armeria maritima. Thymus serpyllum, Polygonum viviparum, 

 Oxyria reniformis, Juncus trifidus, Luzula spicata, Carex 

 rigida, Deschampsia flexuosa, and Festuca vivipara. At such 

 elevations these are mostly reduced in habit. In the 

 more sheltered places, or lower down the sides of the moun- 

 tains, occur Bumex Acetosa, Cerasiium alpinum, Geum rivale, 

 Chrysosplenium oppositifolium, Caltha palustris, Viola palustris, 

 Anthoxanthum odoratum ; whilst there are found, on the 

 mountains to which I have referred, at a still lower eleva- 

 tion, Callu7ia mdgaris, Pyrola minor, Parnassia palustris, 

 Arctostaphyllos Uva-Ursi, A. alpina, Vaceinium Vitis-Ldoea, 

 and even Loiseleuria prociind)ens. 



