Dr Lauder Lindsay on the Flora of Iceland. 83 
Salmon River, our rare Lychnis alpina, also in fine flower 
(and which in Iceland is sometimes white), frequently caught 
my eye. As an illustration of the vegetation of the lower 
lands of Iceland, let me cite that of the vicinity of Reykjavik, 
of which I can speak from personal observation. This district 
is in general little elevated above the sea, and is essentially 
a barren, stony desert—the soil being made up chiefly of 
fragments of dolerite, trachyte, and lava. In some localities, 
it is a lava field, or series of lava fields, as in the neighbour- 
hood of Havnafjord ; in others, it consists of morass or moor- 
land, having quite as desolate an aspect as the stony deserts 
just referred to, Associated with the alpine plants above- 
mentioned (Silene acaulis and Lychnis alpina) occurred 
also, in beautiful flower, Thalictrum alpinum, Cerastium 
alpinum, Alchemilla alpina, Draba incana in large hand- 
some tufts, Dryas octopetala, Salix herbacea, Potentilla 
verna var. alpestris, Luzula spicata, and Owyria reni- 
formis; and the following sub-alpines, Aira ccespitosa var. 
alpina, Festuca ovina var. duriuscula, form or state vivipara, 
Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursi, and Hmpetrum nigrum. On the 
Reykjavik deserts or moors, especially to the north-west of 
the town, some of the commonest British wayside weeds occur 
in a dwarf or pigmy, and greatly altered, form. Cardamine 
hirsuta, and its var. sylvatica are abundant here and on the 
banks of the Laugar; but it is a pigmy, about 1 to 2 inches 
high, resembling strongly a similar dwarf form of Capsella 
Bursa-pastoris, and is searcely recognisable at first sight as our 
familiar Cardamine. The dwarf form of C. Bursa-pastoris 
is also about 1 to 2 inches high, and is quite a miniature of our 
common roadside weed. The following plants are also com- 
mon in the neighbourhood of Reykjavik, all of them asso- 
ciated indiscriminately with the Scotch alpines and sub-alpines 
already mentioned, many of them more especially abounding 
on the streets or roadsides of Reykjavik, or in the immediate 
vicinity of habitations. Caltha palustris is the most abundant 
marsh plant about Reykjavik. Armeria vulgaris is very abun- 
dant on all the moors, as are also Luzula campestris, Silene 
inflata var. maritima, Veronica serpyllifolia, Vaccinium uli- 
ginosum, Cardamine pratensis in fine flower, and Galiwm 
