78 ON THE BOTANY OF THE BRITISH POLAR EXPEDITION, 



the winter of our experience did not probably exceed a foot and 

 a-half at the most, except where drifted. Upon the vertical range 

 of species, I made the following observations with an aneroid : — 

 At 2000 feet occur — Papacer mtdicaide, Draba alpina, Saxifraga 



oppositifolia, S. casjntosa. 



At 1500 feet — Poa arctica, Cerastium alpinum, Stellaria longipes; 

 the last two very scarce and stunted. 



At 1400 feet — Saxifraga cemua, Oxyria reniformis, Saxifraga 

 flagellaris, S. nivalis, S. tricuspidata, Alopecuru* alpinus, PotentUla 

 nirea, Cerastium latifolium. 



At 1000 feet — Pedicidaru hirsuta, Lychnis apetala, Erioplwrum 

 capitatiun ; the latter not appearing at lower levels. 



At 800 feet — He$perU Pallasii, Taraxacum Dens-leonis, 



At 700 feet — Erigeron unifloru*, And rosace scptcntrionalis, Pedi- 

 cularis capitate {Saxifraga tricuspidata disappears), Equisetum varie- 

 yatum. 



At 500 feet — Salix arctica, Pedirnlaris sudetica, PotentUla frii/ida, 

 Draba androsacea, P). hirta. 



At 400 feet — Ahine verna, Vesica Ha arctica, Draba parviflora, 

 Carex fuliifinosa. 



At 300 feet — Cochlearia anglica, Erigeron compositus. 



Up to the highest of the above altitudes, two mosses (Tortida 

 leucostoma and O rthothecium cltrt/seum) occurred with the Phanero- 

 gams there mentioned. Lichens were not observed. I may here 

 mention that I cannot agree with Professor Theodor Fries, who, 

 in his admirable paper upon that branch of the botany of our 

 expedition (Linnean Society's < Journal of Botany,' vol. xvii., 1879), 

 speaks of lichens as " belonging to the flora that approaches 

 nearest to the north pole." Certain phanerogams surpassed them 

 in vertical range; and from the latitude 83° 6 r , whence Lieut. 

 Aldrich brought home one lichen {Gyrophora cylindrica); he also 

 brought home one phanerogam and two others from lat. 83° 4'. 

 I believe the latter, if there be any difference, will hold their own 

 against lichens in the struggle for life to the farthest northern land. 



Some plants seem to be unable to flow r er in Discovery Bay. 



w/a riviuaris, and (Jar damme pratemis made 

 no effort to flower, while others, as Saxifraga cernua, S. nivalis, S. 

 tricuspidata, and Festuca brevifoUa only blossomed very sparingly ; 

 male catkins of Salix arctica became extremely rare northwards, 

 scarcely occurring (if at all) beyond lat. 80, while female catkins 

 continued to be plentiful. Again, the anthers of others, M 



Alopecurus alpinus and Stellaria hnujipes, rarely open so as to shed 

 their pollen, as they do abundantly in lower latitudes, where its rich 

 colours are often conspicuous. These instances tend to confirm 

 my observation that arctic plants are independent of reproduction 

 by seed. Butterflies and other insects, whose office it often is to 

 fertilise flowers, occur here ; and though the function is no longer 

 in use, as it must have been hi a more temperate climate, they 

 remain as a relic of a former more extensive arctic fauna. 



