THE FLOWERS OF KOLGUEV 397 



for examples, Delphinium datum and Dianthus superbus (which reaches 

 through Arctic Europe and Asia to Japan) ; to the latter class, among 

 others, Valeriana capitata and Primula stricta. 



Although, as was to have been expected in the case of an island only 

 fifty miles from the coast of Arctic Europe, the floral affinities of Kolguev 

 are with the mainland, yet there are some exceptions, which seem to me 

 worth noticing. 



I am glad to take this opportunity of thanking the following members of 

 the British Museum Staff for careful comparison of my plants with the type- 

 forms in that collection, and for much trouble in identification — Mr. James 

 Britten, Mr. Antony Gepp, Mr. E. G. Baker, and Mr. A. B. Rendle. 



I find three instances of boreal plants which appear not to have been 

 recorded from Arctic Russia — Stellaria Edwardsii, S. humifusa, and 

 Atitennaria carpathica. Both of these are said to be found on 

 Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemblya. 1 Finally, the apparent absence from 

 Kolguev of such well-known northern forms as Saxifraga oppositifolia, 

 Mertensia maritima, and the beautiful azalea-like Ledum palustre (L. 

 dilatatum Ait.), so striking a feature of the tundra, is at least remarkable. 



Since my return to this country I have been carefully through the list 

 of plants collected in Kolguev by Dr. Ruprecht. They will be found 

 in a work by him entitled Flores Samoyedorum cisuralensium. 2 The 

 work he accomplished during his short visit to Kolguev was admirable. 

 He collected flowering plants only. It was inevitable that he should 

 miss several of the plants which I have in my own collection, but, on 

 the other hand, he records several which I did not see. Dr. Ruprecht 

 defined as species certain plants which are now only regarded as 

 climatic varieties {e.g. he described and figured as new species no less 

 than seven forms of Pod). But of those which I believe to be accepted 

 as species, and which do not appear in my list, I give the following, as 

 a tribute to his work, and with the idea of making the Kolguev list more 

 complete, and therefore more useful to others : — 



Ranunculus lapponicus L. 

 R. Samoyedorum Rupr. 

 Aconitum septentrionale Willd. 



1 Cf. Nyman's Conspectus. 



2 Beitrage zur Pflangenkunde der russischen Retches. St. Petersburg, 1845. 



