12 
MUSEUM BULLETIN NO. 26. 
real alpine meadows, whilst, in the Rockies, similar plant formations are 
generally met on steep slopes. With regard to the vegetation above 
the tree-line, it may be said that the differences between the two moun- 
tain systems are chiefly due to differences in moisture supply, the Sel- 
kirks being favoured with much more abundant precipation than are the 
Rockies. For this reason the alpine meadow associations of the Sel- 
kirks extend almost to the snow-line and, for the same reason, a number of 
the high alpine plants which, in the Rockies, are characteristic of the 
bare peaks above the grassy slopes, are not met with at all in the Selkirks. 
The Selkirk forest differs from that of the Rocky Mountains with 
regard to composition as far as the trees are concerned, the principal 
species being Thuja plicata, Pseudotsuga mucronata, Tsuga hetzrophylla, 
T. Mertensiana and Picea Englemanni. The undergrowth is, on the 
mountains proper, very similar to that of the Rocky Mountains, and 
although much more luxuriant is not represented by many species. 
In the lower valleys, however, and on lower levels, where the forest 
is more open in character, the shrubby as well as the herbaceous under- 
growth is very different. Not only is it luxuriantly developed, but the 
species of which it is composed are of a different type. The Rocky 
Mountain flora is disappearing, its place being taken to such an extent 
by Pacific coast species that the traveller, or the casual observer, will 
find it rather difficult to detect any marked differences between the flora 
of the Selkirk valleys and that of the coniferous forest of the Pacific 
coast. 
The Coast Range. — Biologically, the mountains of the Coast range 
are very similar to those of the Selkirk range. This is to a certain extent 
also true from a systematic standpoint, as practically all species found in 
the Selkirks also occur in the Coast range. 
The Coast range, however, although having the bulk of plant species 
in common with the Selkirks, may be considered a distinct botanical 
province. The reasons for this are that many species occur which are 
confined to the coast proper and that the Coast range is the home of a 
number of what may be considered truly endemic plants, which, as far as 
is known at present, are very local in their distribution and are found 
nowhere else in British Columbia. Among those plants may be mentioned 
especially numerous species of Antennaria , Arnica , Senecio, Aster , 
Erigeron and other composites. 
Owing to the long growing season, the high average temperature 
and the abundance of the precipitation, the vegetation in the valleys and 
the lowlands of the Coast range is almost subtropical in appearance. 
The trees, especially Thuja, Picea and Pseudotsuga, reach gigantic 
dimensions, and the forest, no matter how dense, always possesses a very 
luxuriant undergrowth. In old untouched forests, fallen trunks, 
