IIOOKEK ON PLANTS FROM SMITH SOUND. 321 



XXXVIII. — Note on some Plants from Smith Sound, 

 collected by Dr. Bessels. By Dr. J. D. Hooker, C.B., 

 F.R.S. 1873. 



[From " A Whaling Cruise to Baffin's Bay and the Gulf of 

 " Boothia ; with an Account of the Rescue of the Crew of the 

 " * Polaris.' " By A. H. Markham, Commander R.N., 

 r.R.G.S. 1874. Page 296.] 



Captain Markham's collection contains 20 species of Flowering 

 Plants, including four collected by Dr. Bessels in the highest 

 latitude from which Flowering Plants have hitherto been obtained, 

 namely 82° N. The locality appears to have been on the east side 

 of Smith's Sound.* They are Draba alpina, Cerastium alpinum, 

 Taraxacum Dens-lconis, and Poa flexuosa. All of them are 

 common Arctic plants, being found on both coasts of Greenland, 

 as well as throughout the Parry Islands. Of the other species 

 collected by Captain Markham himself, the Arctic distribution is 

 well known. None of them belong to the remarkable assemblage 

 of Scandinavian plants which inhabit Greenland, and of wliich no 

 other member has been found on the eastern shores of Baffin's 

 Bay. On the other hand, one of them is a member of that 

 smaller number which has never been found on the Greenland 

 coast. This is the peculiar and beautiful little Pleuropogon 

 Sahini, the only genus which is absolutely confined to the Arctic 

 regions, and of which the solitary species is restricted in its dis- 

 tribution to the Arctic- American islands. It was discovered by 

 Captain, now General Sir, Edward Sabine, in Melville Island, 

 during Parry's First Voyage in 1819-1820, and is probably found 

 in all the islands. Capt. Markham's specimen was gathered on 

 Fury Beach. 



The other species call for no special remark. They are 

 interesting as, in several cases, coming from places where the same 

 plant had not previously been gathered. These localities are 

 valuable, as completing a, knowledge of the area inhabited by such 

 species, though they do not materially enlarge it. 



[See above ^ Dr. Hooker's memoir on Arctic Plants, pages 205, 

 &c.] 



XXXIX. — Notes on the Zoology, Botany, and Geology 

 of the Voyage of the " Polaris " to Kennedy and 

 BoBESON Channels. 



1. " Nature,'' July 17, 1873, vol.viii., p. 218. — " During the sum- 

 mer the entire extent of both lowlands and elevations are bare of 

 snow and ice excepting patches here and there in the shape of the 



* "Nature," vol. viii., No. 20G, p. 487. Oct. 9, 1873. 

 3G122. X 



