ON THE BOTANY OF THE BKITISH POLAR EXPEDITION. 73 



made a careful collection of all the species lie could observe ; that 

 collection, as well as other excellent ones of his from different 

 stations (including one made by me in Discovery Bay), has 

 fortunately corae under my examination, and from it and my 

 own observations I am enabled to give an account of this district. 



The rock about Polaris Bay is a hard slaty limestone, turning 

 into shale in places ; near the shore for some distance lies a 

 plain of considerable extent, rising gradually for a mile or so 

 inland, and then, by a series of abrupt declivities, to a higher 

 plain of 600 to 1200 feet. The lower plains are tolerably sprinkled 

 with vegetation, but the higher level is composed of barren shingle 

 which in many places the snow never leaves ; about a mile inland, 

 and at an altitude of no more than 300 feet, a blue edge, two feet 

 thick, of a diminutive glacier may be seen, while a few miles to the 

 south the Petermann Glacier discharges into the straits. Heavy 

 floeberg ice from the Polar Sea also drifts to this coast and remains 

 throughout the summer, tending no doubt to lower the temperature ; 

 and I am inclined to think that a colder summer upon this shore 

 plays an important part in causing the remarkable difference which 

 exists between the flowers upon the opposite sides of the straits. 

 Opportunities of interchange of species must occur; summer- 

 torrents commonly carry blocks of frozen soil laden with plants to 

 the ice foot, or to the marine ice at Discovery Bay or elsewhere ; 

 ice rafts may then carry them to other shores as the wind or tide 

 directs, and, once having reached the land, they will often be forced, 

 by the pressure of some outside travelling floe, to a distance from 

 the sea, and in a safe position to form a new colony. 



No plants occurred in Polaris Bay which were not common 

 upon the opposite shore, except, perhaps, the form Dryas octopetala, 

 which is barely worth mentioning apart from D. intr<jrifoUa. 

 Saxifrages were extraordinarily scarce, only two species occurring 

 as against seven in Discovery Bay. CyperacM appear to be entirely 

 absent, though six species at least occur upon the opposite side. 

 The entire flora only numbered twenty-two species, less than a 

 third part of that upon the west shore of the straits, twenty-five 

 ^iles off. In Polaris Bay the proportion of Monocotyledons to 

 Dicotyledons is 1 to 45, in Discovery Bay it is 1 to 2-9, and the 

 decreasing proportion of Monocotyledons to Dicotyledons in Polaris 

 Bay denotes a more Arctic vegetation. 



XU. Discovery Bay, lat. 81° 42', Aug. 25, 1875, to Aug. 20, 1876. 



. For a radius of about fifteen miles from the ' Discovery's ' 

 winter-quarters the country was thoroughly explored by me, and 

 others belonging to that ship ; while north of this, to Floeberg 

 #each, the coast was visited and examined at numerous points by 

 parties belonging to the 'Alert.' Discovery Bay yielded sixty-six 

 flowering plants (49 Dicotyledons, 17 Monocotyledons), one fern, 

 and two horse tails : almost all these were to be found close to the 

 harbour, and several not elsewhere ; with one or two exceptions 

 phe whole Flora of Grinnell Land is to be found upon Bellot Island 

 ^ Discovery Bay. 



