I veuture a giiess, I should think there must be some coiifusion with the wellknown 
memoir of J. D. Hooker, raentioned below. 
A verv useful little book — uotwithstanding the numerous errors even in the 
second edition — is Greelys Handbook of Arctic Discoveries, and it is very much 
superior to the låter similar books by Hassert and Bra un. The wellknown »Arctic 
Manual» I have, of course, also used, but as most parts of it are abstracts or reprints 
from otber works, I have in all such cases sought back to the original publication. 
A valuable book of reference I have also found Markham's Life of M'Clintock 
Finally I have to mention the compilatory botanical works I have used. The 
statements about the range and occurrence oJ species in Hooker'8 Flora Boreali- 
Americana, Macoun's Catalogue of Canadian plants, and Ostenpeld's Flora Arctioa 
I have only made use of after comparing with the original records or, if none 
existed, quoted the flora in question as ray source, at the same time expressing my 
doubt, if I have thought the statement to be mistaken. Likewise I have tried to 
look uj) the sources of the details of distribution in Mårtens' Ueberblick der Flora 
Arctica, a work that had deserved to be less overlooked than it has been in con- 
sequenee of the nearly contemporaneous work oi J. D. Hooker, Outlines of distribu- 
tion of Arctic plants. How important the latter raay be, principally in consequence 
of the theoretical deductions it contains and the light it throws over the most con- 
spicuous features in the composition of Arctic floras — a matter already discussed 
by Darwin in Origin of species — it uevertheless löses much of its value because 
the linvit of what is called Arctic is so unnaturally chosen. In taking the Polar 
circle as borderline of the Arctic Regions hundreds of decidedly temperate plants 
come to pass as arctic, and on the other hand some lands with an arctic climate 
must be excluded and transfered to the Temperate Region. 
As a result of the exploration from 1818 up to the present time, now 196 
species of flowering plants and 8 ferns and fern-allies are known from the Arctic 
Arcbipelago. Doubtless the numbers will some time be considerably enlarged, 
especially when the southern parts, BaflRn Land and Victoria and Banks Lands, are 
thoroughly explored by a trained botanist. Certainly many species of the less showy 
orders, such as grasses and sedges, will theu be added to the present lists. Even 
now, however, there is a great difference as to the degree of accuracy with which 
the different Islands are explored, and I think the foUowing table (I), showing the 
number of species recorded by different explorers and known from each of the 
larger islands, may be of some interest. Where double^columns are inserted the 
first contains total numbers, the second additions to the flora of the island in 
question 
