394 LABRADOR 



some of their special means of adaptation to their environ- 

 ment, of causes of the particular kinds and particular 

 structures that occur, of their relation to food-supply, 

 soil and climate, and to insect life. If the observer start 

 with some ability to make analyses of flowers, and with a 

 simple equipment of books 1 to aid in the identification of 

 specimens, he will soon gain acquaintance with all the more 

 commonly occurring plants. If, in addition to this, he be 

 expert in botany, or will make a carefully selected and 

 annotated collection and submit it to some capable botanist 

 at home for identification, he may possibly be rewarded by 

 the discovery of species and varieties hitherto unknown in 



1 Of books, among the most useful will be : 



1. As aids to analysis: 



Britton, Manual of the Flora of the Northern States and Canada. 

 Britton and Brown, Illustrated Flora of the Northern States and 



Canada. 



Gray: Synoptical Flora of North America (incomplete). 

 Gray: New Manual of Botany, 7th ed., rearranged and revised by 

 B. L. Robinson and M. L. Fernald, 1908. 



2. For an understanding of forms and distribution : 

 Schimper: Plant Geography upon a Physiological Basis. Oxford, 



1904. 



Dawson : The Geological History of Plants. 

 Hooker: Distribution of Arctic Plants. 



3. For lists of plants already reported from Labrador : 



See lists of books in Delabarre's Report of Expedition to Labrador 



(Philadelphia Geographical Society, 1902), pp. 172, 194, 197. 



But for their inadequacy, see previous footnote. 



Professor Fernald, our most expert authority on far northern 



plants, informs me that nearly all the published lists of Labrador 



plants contain many errors. Recent studies have given a much more 



intimate acquaintance with the northern flora, and thus all the old 



lists need critical revision. It is impossible, therefore, to give an 



accurate list of all plants thus far observed as occurring in Labrador, 



under their correct names. The whole matter must be decided finally 



by competent authorities 



