412 LABBADOR 



low depressions, forming moors ; and well-watered, sunny 

 slopes. The first three of these are emphasized forms of 

 the tundra; the last departs from the tundra type, form- 

 ing oases in it. 



(a) The alpine conditions of the higher mountains, which 

 are confined almost wholly to the northern half of the 

 country, are unfavourable to any form of life. The summits 

 consist of broken masses of rock, a Felsenmeer of rough and 

 continuous boulders of various size. Among these, only 

 scattered clumps of struggling plants can find footing and 

 the essential conditions for living. The number of indi- 

 viduals, even among the mosses and lichens, is small, and 

 the species are few. On one summit (Mt. Faunce, 4400 feet, 

 latitude 59) I found above 3300 feet only the following: 

 Cerastium alpinum, Drabafladnitzensis, Saxifraga ccBspitosa, 

 S. rivularis, S. nivalis, Papaver nudicaule, Sedum f, Luzula 

 confusa, mosses (Andrecea petrophila, Bryum?, Pogonatum 

 alpinum or urnigerum, P. capillare, Racomitrium lanugino- 

 sum), and lichens (Alectoria diver gens, A.nigricans, Cetraria 

 arctica, C. cuculata, Sphcerophoron comlloides, Stereocaulon 

 denudatum, S. tomentosum, Theloschistes polycarpus, Umbili- 

 caria proboscided) . 



(b) On protruding rocks but few plants grow, in low, flat, 

 spreading cushions. Areas of gravel are also but little 

 hospitable to plants, and their covering is consequently 

 scanty. The plants that find it possible to survive there 

 are to some extent identical with those already described 

 as growing well in sand. They are pioneers among plants, 

 such as can take root and nourish themselves on the bare 

 rock-grains and moisture; and their decay makes richer 

 soil for others to grow in. The species of most common 



