394 : LABRADOR 
some of their special means of adaptation to their environ- 
ment, of causes of the particular kinds and particular 
structures that occur, of their relation to food-supply, 
soil and climate, and to insect life. If the observer start 
with some ability to make analyses of flowers, and with a 
simple equipment of books* to aid in the identification of 
specimens, he will soon gain acquaintance with all the more 
commonly occurring plants. If, in addition to this, he be 
expert in botany, or will make a carefully selected and 
annotated collection and submit it to some capable botanist 
at home for identification, he may possibly be rewarded by 
the discovery of species and varieties hitherto unknown in 
1 Of books, among the most useful will be: — 
1. As aids to analysis: — 
- Britton, Manual of the Flora of the Northern States and Canada. 
Britton and Brown, Illustrated Flora of the Northern States and 
Canada. 
Gray: Synoptical Flora of North America (incomplete). 
Gray: New Manual of Botany, 7th ed., rearranged and revised by 
B. L. Robinson and M. L. Fernald, 1908. 
2. For an understanding of forms and distribution: — 
Schimper: Plant Geography upon a Physiological Basis. Oxford, 
1904. 
Dawson: The Geological History of Plants. 
Hooker: Distribution of Arctic Plants. 
3. For lists of plants already reported from Labrador: — 
See lists of books in Delabarre’s Report of Expedition to Labrador 
(Philadelphia Geographical Society, 1902), pp. 172, 194, 197. 
But for their inadequacy, see previous footnote. 
Professor Fernald, our most expert authority on far northern 
plants, informs me that nearly all the published lists of Labrador 
plants contain many errors. Recent studies have given a much more 
intimate acquaintance with the northern flora, and thus all the old 
lists need critical revision. It is impossible, therefore, to give an 
accurate list of all plants thus far observed as oecurring in Labrador, 
under their correct names. The whole matter must be decided finally 
by competent authorities 
