Arctic Exploration. 293 



decline of the glacial epoch, Greenland, being a peninsula, 

 could be repeopled with plants only by the northward migra- 

 tion of the purely Scandinavian species that had been pre- 

 viously driven into its southern extremity ; and the result 

 would be a uniform Scandinavian flora throughout its length, 

 and this an Arctic one, from north to south. But in America 

 a very different state of things would supervene ; the Scan- 

 dinavian plants would not only migrate north, but ascend the 

 Alleghanies, White Mountains, &c. ; and the result would be 

 that, on the one hand, many Scandinavian plants which had 

 been driven out of Greenland, but were preserved in the 

 United States, would reappear on the Parry Islands and 

 Labrador, accompanied with sundry American mountain 

 types ; and, on the other, that a few Greenland-Scandinavian 

 types which had been lost in the struggle with the American 

 types during their northward migration, and which hence 

 do not reappear in Labrador and the Parry Islands, might 

 well be preserved in the Alleghanies and White Mountains. 

 And, lastly, that a number of Scandinavian plants which had 

 changed their form or habit during the migration in America 

 in conflict with the American types, would appear in the 

 Parry Islands as American varieties or representative species 

 of Scandinavian plants. 



Whether or no this be a true hypothesis, it embraces all 

 the facts ; and botanists look anxiously to further explora- 

 tions in the northern parts of Greenland for more light on the 

 subject, and especially for evidence of rising or sinking of the 

 land in Smith Sound and the countries north and east of it, 

 and for evidences of ancient connection between Greenland 

 and Scandinavia ; for observations on the temperature, direc- 

 tion, and deptli of transporting currents in these seas, and on 

 the habits of its ruminant migrating animals, that may have 

 influenced the distribution of the vegetation by transporting 

 the seeds. Such facts as those of the existence of ancient 

 forests in what are now Arctic regions, and of the migration 



