SK Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



July 11 July 26-29 (Martin point, Alaska) 



Artemisia comata Elymns mollis 



Glyceria tenella 



July 11 Sedum rhodiola 



Taraxacum lyratum xtdlaria longipes 



Alopecurus alpinus Halianthus peploiden 



Astragalus alpinus Carex reducta 



Saxifraga rivularis Carex incurva 



S. hieracUfolia Dupontia Fischeri 



Sausisurea angustifolia Mertensia maritima 



1'r.dicn-laris cap it at a e ^ c ~ 

 Eutrema edwardsti 

 Stcllarta humifusa Axfjnst 3 (Icy reef, Alaska) 



nua Draba nivalis 



Lychnis apetala Arctogrostis latifolia 



Senecio atropurpureus (J^rrpi-s nana 



Eierochloe pauctflora Jspilobium latifolium 



Carex reducta, C. stans Festuca ovina var. brevifolia 



Luzula spicata Poa arctica 



Hippuris vulgaris Androsace Chamaejasme 



Flowers of Empetrum nigrum were found on May 6, 1914, but this may 

 have been a 1913 flower. 



Observations on flowers were also made at Shingle point and on Herschel 

 island, Yukon, in the beginning and middle of August, 1914 and 1916. The 

 vegetation at these two localities, and at others equally close to the Mackenzie 

 delta, is apparently a week or more earlier than along the coast west of the 

 International boundary line. 



No new flowers were observed west of Mackenzie delta .after August 21. 

 The Compositae and grasses are the dominating ones in the end of August. 



From the beginning or middle of September the frost gradually kills off 

 the flowers and green leaves, and about the end of September, when the first 

 snow has fallen, the dead fruit-stems and leaves are the main plant parts 

 observed, though hibernating leaf-buds are sometimes seen. 



INSECT LIFE ON ALASKAN ARCTIC COAST 



October, 1913, to April, 1914. 



Insects are scarce along the Alaskan Arctic coast after October and are 

 found only under stones and driftwood, or by digging in the frozen tundra or 

 cutting holes in the freshwater ice. Entomological investigations in northeast 

 Greenland have shown that the hibernation of insects in that region 1 is very 

 similar to that of insects in northern Alaska, though the American Arctic is 

 richer in the number of species, which are mostly different from the Greenlandic. 



The main objective of the hibernating insects is to find, before the snow 

 and frost come, some place where the spring water can best be avoided. They 

 therefore take every advantage of cover, especially of those places likely to 

 become free of snow in the early spring. In this, not all are successful, but 

 they are more likely to be found, during the winter, on such exposed localities 

 than on lower ones that have a better vegetation (PI. Ill, fig. 1). An exception 

 is, however, formed by certain larvae, such as large diptera, e.g., tipulidae, which 

 hibernate down in the ground until the medium surrounding them thaws. 

 Aquatic insects and larvae that inhabit water all through the year endeavour to 

 bore themselves into the mud, and failing this, are killed, and hibernate only as 

 eggs when the water freezes to the bottom. 



Insects hibernating in the latter part of September, of course remain in 

 that state during the winter, though probably in decreased numbers, a great 

 many being killed when the temperature falls to zero Fahrenheit. Most hiber- 

 nating insects can withstand temperatures down to 50 degrees below, and the 

 mortality may be ascribed rather to factors in the life-cycle of each particular 

 insect than to the cold. 



1 See Meddelelser om Gronland, Vols. 19 (Deichmann) and 43 (Johnsen). 



