154 



Rasmussen who has a station here, — though he is an absent host, 

 having gone to Denmark to arrange for bringing back to his 

 home museum the great meteorite which I examined for him at 

 Melville Bay last winter. 



It is snowing here to-day, and sledging is still expedient though 

 hardly safe. Nevertheless, summer has come to the Northland. 

 The big gold and black bumblebee is a-buzz over the catkins of 

 our diminutive willow trees; the royal purple Saxifraga op- 

 positifolia is a-blossom among the snow-drifts, wherever a gravel 

 bank is exposed and the golden poppy is coming into blossom 

 along with Draha hirta and alpina, Oxyria digyna, Cochlearia 

 officinalis, Ranunculus nivalis?, Pedicularis arctica, Potentilla 

 pulchella, Mertillus sp., Dryas integrifolia and a number of others. 

 The snow-bunting sings his blithe lark-like song all day long 

 and the ptarmigan is nesting on the hills. All day long the sun 

 circles the sky. It is summer in Thule! 



W. Elmer Ekblaw* 



Etah, N. Greenland, 

 June 30, 1914 



Wild Flower Preservation Society of America 



The Chicago Chapter of the Wild Flower Preservation Society 

 of America has leased a natural tract of land near the city as a 

 permanent reserve for the native plants of the southern Lake 

 Michigan region. In this tract the chapter will safeguard the 

 species naturally growing there; bring in all those species that 

 have been previously lost to the area; and allow all persons to 

 visit and enjoy the wild flowers so long as they refrain from 

 picking them. 



The tract is amply extensive. It includes naturally forested 

 land ; a deep wooded gulch through which runs a winding stream ; 

 high timbered banks and knolls, and a large, characteristic, 

 shifting sand dune. On May 15th, this year, 93 species were 

 found in flower on the tract though the date was too early for 

 the full vernal blooming period. 



* Extract from a letter received by Mrs. E. G. Britton which was mailed in 

 Copenhagen, 28 May, 1915. On 19 June a relief ship sailed from Boston to carry 

 supplies to the party of which Mr. Ekblaw is one. — Ed. 



