J 45 
It will be observed that most of the genera named in the above list, are 
represented in Great Britain ; and that nearly one third of the species (the 
fourteen marked *) are included in our lists ; being now met with 
principally on the summits of some of the higher English and Scotch 
mountains. These are I think very interesting facts, as there can be 
doubt but these British specimens are descendants of plants which flourished 
in our islands thousands of years since, during the glacial period ; being 
probably our sole living representatives of that far distant epoch. Some 
few British plants that are also met with in the Arctic Regions are not 
given in my list as there are no specimens of them in my collection. For 
instance Leontodon pahistre Sm., which in some parts of Scotland is the 
most common species of "dandelion" was found in Melville Island and other 
places during Parry's voyages. 
Though both Hooker *and Brown remark on the great difficulty they 
experienced in determining some of the Arctic species owing to their 
extremely variable nature, my specimens appear to differ from British 
ones only in their smaller size, and greater tendency to pubescence. As a 
rule, the farther north a species occurs, the more stunted becomes its 
growth. Thus the pretty little poppy Papaver nudicaule, which grows in 
some places to a height of from seven to nine inches, does not exceed half 
that size in its most northern stations. This is said to be the most hardy 
plant of the Polar regions, resisting the first frosts, and remaining the last 
in flower. It probably extends to the farthest limits of vegetation. 
Captain Sherard Osborne and others remark on the familiar look of the 
Arctic flowers reminding them of home. Buttercups, poppies, saxifrages, 
knot-grass, sorrel, and dandelions grow in many sheltered localities within 
the Arctic circle. 
All the Melville Island plants are quite small, my largest specimens 
measuring only from five to six inches. Of course no trees were found 
there, the tree-limit being far to the south. Though there is a faint 
twilight each day for some hours, during the long interval of more than 
three months that the sun is absent from these high latitudes, there is at no 
time sufficient light for out door explorations. Thus July, August, and 
September are the only months in which botanical specimens can be 
collected in Melville Island. 
