Coastal Area at Bernard Harbour Alec 
swamps. These contain a few large, shallow ponds close to the creek and also 
form bights along the latter, filled with a dense growth of Arctagrostis latifolia, 
Hippuris vulgaris var. maritima, etc. The tundra swamps also surround the 
creek in the upper half of its course, though its bed is mostly composed of gravel, 
and are populated by Eriophorum angustifolium, E. Scheuchzert, and various 
grasses. However, where the bedrock outcrops are reached, about half the 
distance to the sea, the creek cuts through higher, gravelly tundra or comes 
close to the gravel ridge following it on the north side. Making a sharp bend 
it runs over gravelly bottom with a scarcer or richer vegetation along and in it, 
made up almost exclusively of Carex rigida and C. pulla. From August on the 
creek can be easily forded almost anywhere in this part of its course. A little 
farther down it cuts through a small exposure of bedrock which also forms its 
bed for a short distance, but otherwise its lower course lies enitrely between 
higher stony or clayey tundra, forming bluffs on both sides of the boulder-filled 
creek bed. Its outlet into the sea is first very shallow and composed of a wide, 
stony bed surrounded by tundra plains, but when the sandy beach region has 
been reached it becomes narrower and deeper as it merges gradually into the 
long, narrow bay.' A very characteristic and fairly common plant for the 
small, gravelly and sandy islands in the mouth of this creek is Epilobium lati- 
folium. This species is practically not found at other places at Bernard har- 
bour. In the inundated parts of the creek mouth the vegetation is scarce and 
mainly found in shelter of boulders, where certain species of mosses, Carex, 
Dupontia Fischeri, and other grasses compose it. 
The tundra swamps surrounding the lakes and ponds at Bernard harbour 
are almost entirely made up of mosses and Carex, with a sprinkling of certain 
other plants, such as Salix reticulata, Polygonum viviparum, Oxyria digyna, 
Saxifraga aizoides, 8. Hirculus, Pedicularis sudetica, Senecio palustris, besides 
fungi and a number of plants more characteristic of the drier and higher tundra 
from which they have spread.? 
Certain plants, for instance Arctostaphylos alpina and Vaccinium uliginosum, 
may perhaps be included among those characteristic of the moist tundra swamps 
at Bernard harbour, as they are found mainly and attain their best developement 
in the small gullies between the dry tundra banks and slopes on both sides of 
the large creek, but they are also found in shelter of large boulders from the 
lowland to the top of the ridges. 
Tofieldia palustris, Ranunculus pygmaeus, Primula sibirica, and the three 
species of Juncus mentioned above seem at Bernard harbour to be found almost 
solely in moist places on the sandy slopes and bluffs a little inland’ where, together 
with. mosses, Salix reticulata, Polygonum viviparum, Oxyria digyna, Saxifraga 
aizoides, and Arctostaphylos alpina, they compose most of the vegetation which 
in such places generally is more luxuriant than anywhere else in the district. 
The more typical coastal tundra covering dry, sandy, or gravelly soil is 
made up of a comparatively large number of plants, including Equisetum arvense, 
Calamagrostis purpurascens, Trisetum spicatum, Poa arctica, Festuca ovina var. 
brevifolia, Carex spp., Salix anglorum, Silene acaulis, Lychnis apetala, Cerastium 
alpinum, Ranunculus affinis, Papaver nudicaule, Draba spp., Eutrema Edwardsiz, 
Sisymbrium sophioides, Saxifraga decipiens var. groenlandica, S. tricuspidata, 8. 
oppositifolia, Dryas integrifolia, Potentilla spp., Astragalus alpinus, Oxytropis 
spp., Hedysarum Mackenzii, Androsace Chamaejasme, Castilleja pallida, Pedi- 
cularis lanata, C. capitata, Plantago lanceolata, Erigeron compositus, Chrysanthe- 
mum integrifolium, Artemisia spp., Taraxacum sp.* 
Some of these, viz.: Equisetum, Lychnis, Papaver,> Eutrema, are however 
by no means common and occur more isolated here and there; others, viz.: 
7 See Plate I, fig. 1, in Vol. IV, Pt. A, of these reports 
2 See fig. 4, p. 7, Vol. VII, Pt. E, of these reports. 
3 Primula stricta occurs in similar places but nearer the beach. 
4 See Plates II-III, in Pt. A, of this volume. 
5 See Plate I, fig. 2, in Pt. A. of this volume 
