24 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



protuid. Tlie European and Asiatic species differ, however, from those which 

 grow in America. 



Tlius in the Russian empire and Scandinavia we find the Scotch fir {Pmiis 

 si/h'es(ris), the Siberian fir and hirch {Abies slblrica, Larix slbirlca), the Picea 

 obovata, nuil tiie J^inus ccnibra ; while in ttie Hudson's Bay territories the 

 woods principally consist of the white and black spruce {Abies alba and 

 nigra), the Canadian larch {Larix catiadensis, and the gray j)ine {Pitiits 

 banksiana). In liotli continents hinh-trees grow farther to the north than 

 the coniferu', and the dwarf willows form dense thickets on the shores of every 

 river and lake. Various species of the service-tree, the as]), and the elder arc 

 also met with in the Arctic forests ; and both under the shelter of the woods 

 and beyond their limits, nature, as if to compensate for the want of fruit-trees 

 ftroduces in favorable localities an abundance of bilberries, bogberries cran- 

 berries, etc. {Einpetrinu, Vacciniion), whose fruit is a great boon to man and 

 beast. When ccMigealed by the autumnal frosts, the beriies frequently remain 

 hanging on the bushes until the snow melts in the following June, and are 

 then a consiilerable resource to the flocks of water-fowl migrating to their 

 northern breeding-places, or to tlie bear awakening from his winter sleep. 



VERGE OF FOUEST KEGION. 



