498 Sir Henry H. Howorth— Geology of the Arctic Lands. 
septentrionalis, which the Nares’ Expedition found in Grinnell land, 
is there removed by a long distance from where it otherwise occurs. 
On the west coast are other rare plants, as Ranunculus glacialis south 
of Upernivik; Hutrema Edwardsii in latitude 70° 47’; Taraxacum 
phymatocarpum in 70°-74' North latitude; Utricularia minor from 
68°21’-69°, elsewhere it occurs in the Urals and the Altai. 
Scirpus parvulus, found in two places between 68° and 69° North lat., 
also European; Cerastium arvense found once in 67° 5’ North lat. ; 
Carex helvola, also found in 67°, and also European ; Linnea borealis, 
found in 1883, near Ivigtut in 61° 10’and in 1884 about 67°. Arctos- 
taphylos alpina, sparingly between 70° and 65°; A. uva ursi only in 
one place, about 67° North lat. near Holstensborg; Sisymbrium humile, 
found in 1884 in the upper part of “Sondre Stromfjorde,” in 
66° 30’ North lat. Then among plants only found otherwise in 
America and West Siberia: Gentiana tenella, found in 1889; Vahlodea 
atropurpurea, Andromeda polifolia, Rubus chamemorus, only found in 
Godhavn in 64° 10’ North lat. and several others. ‘‘ The distribution 
of these plants,” says Warming, ‘seems to me to point to their being 
relics of the old flora which have survived in favourable localities.” 
He further argues that while some plants have managed to survive, 
others have succumbed, and notably such widespread genera as 
Chrysosplenium and Caltha, and also the various genera of Oxytropis, 
Astragalus, Phaca, etc., which are so widely spread in Alpine 
districts, and also in the Arctic regions, but are not found in 
Greenland. One of the most notable absentees from Greenland 
is the Salix polaris, which occurs in Spitzbergen, Scandinavia, North 
Russia, Siberia, and North America as far as Davis Straits. 
These conclusions in regard to Greenland may be paralleled by 
those of Nathorst, in regard to Spitzbergen. He also concludes 
tbat the flora of that island, instead of being an importation since 
Glacial times, is really the wreck and ruin of what was once a much 
richer flora, and which has been able to survive the drastic conditions 
which now prevail there. 
Warming argues that the specially European plants found in 
South Greenland are probably colonists from Iceland. In regard 
to Iceland itself it seems impossible to believe that its comparatively 
rich flora is the result of sporadic colonization. Long ago Pennant 
wrote, in his ingenuous way, that “there are found in Iceland 309 
perfect and 253 cryptogamous plants, while on the Island of 
Ascension, which is: totally and aboriginally volcanic, a flora of 
not more than seven plants is to be seen.” This means that either 
Iceland has been connected with Europe by a land-bridge since 
Glacial times, or that its flora survived the Glacial age, which is 
much more probable. 
Quite recently an examination of the flora which has appeared on 
the uncovered moraine of the great glacier in Alaska seems to point 
to the same lesson, while the instances of trees with their roots 
attached, which were found by Maclure and other Arctic navigators 
in the Arctic Archipelago of North America, seem to point also in 
the same direction. They all apparently converge upon one con- 
