The region about Saint Michael's is a magnificent tundra, crowded with Arctic lichens and mosses, which here develop under most favorable conditions. In the spongy plush formed by the lower plants, in which one sinks almost knee-deep at every step, there is a sparse growth of grasses, carices, and rushes, tall enough to wave in the wind, while empetrum, the dwarf birch, and the various heathworts flourish here in all their beauty of bright leaves and flowers. The moss mantle for the most part rests on a stratum of ice that never melts to any great extent, and the ice on a bed rock of black vesicular lava. Ridges of the lava rise here and there above the general level in rough masses, affording ground for plants that like a drier soil. Numerous hollows and watercourses also occur on the general tundra, whose well-drained banks are decked with gay flowers in lavish abundance, and meadow patches of grasses shoulder high, suggestive of regions much farther south.

The following plants and a few doubtful species not yet determined were collected here:

Linnæa borealis, Gronov. Oxytropis podocarpa, Gray.
Cassiope tetragone, Desv. Astragalus alpinus, L.
Andromeda polifolia, L. frigidus, Gray, var. littoralis.
Loiseleuria procumbeus, Desv. Lathyrus maritimus, Bigelow.
Vaccinium Vitis Idæa, L. Arenaria lateriflora, L.
Arctostaphylos alpina, Spring. Stellaria longipes, Goldie.
Ledum palustre, L. Silene acaulis, L.
Nardosmia frigida, Hook. Saxifraga nivalis, L.
Saussurea alpina, Dl. hieracifolia, W. and K.
Senecio frigidus, Less. Anemone narcissiflora, L.
palustris, Hook. parviflora, Michx.
Arnica angustifolia, Vahl. Caltha palustris, L., var. asarifolia, Rothr.
Artemisia arctica, Bess. Valeriana capitata, Willd.
Matricaria inodora, L. Lloydia serotina, Reichmb.
Rubus chamœ morus, L. Tofieldia coccinea, Richards.
arcticus, L. Armeria vulgaris, Willd.
Potentilla nivea, L. Corydalis pauciflora.
Dryas octopetala, L. Pinguicula Villosa, L.
Draba alpina, L. Mertensia paniculata, Desv.
incana, L. Polygonum alpinum, All.
Entrema arenicola, Hook? Epilobium latifolium, L.
Pedicularis sudetica, Willd. Betula nana, L.
euphrasioides, Steph. Alnus viridis, Dl.
Langsdorffii, Fisch, var. lanata, Gray. Eriophorum capitatum.
Diapensia Lapponica, L. Carex vulgaris, Willd, var. alpina.
Polemoium cœruleum, L. Aspidium fragrans, Swartz.
Primula borealis, Daly. Woodsia Iloensis, Bv.

GOLOVIN BAY.

The tundra flora on the west side of Golovin Bay is remarkably close and luxuriant, covering almost every foot of the ground, the hills as well as the valleys, while the sandy beach and a bank of coarsely stratified moraine material a few yards back from the beach were blooming like a garden with Lathyrus maritimus, Iris sibirica, Polemonium cœruleum, &c., diversified with clumps and patches of Elymus arenarius, Alnus viridis, and Abies alba.

This is one of the few points on the east side of Bering Sea where trees closely approach the shore. The white spruce occurs here in small groves or thickets of well developed erect trees 15 or 20 feet high, near the level of the sea, at a distance of about 6 or 8 miles from the mouth of the bay, and gradually become irregular and dwarfed as they approach the shore. Here a number of dead and dying specimens were observed, indicating that conditions of soil, climate, and relations to other plants were becoming more unfavorable, and causing the tree-line to recede from the coast.

The following collection was made here July 10:

Pinguicula villosa, L. Lloydia serotina, Reichemb.
Vaccinium vitis Idæa, L. Chrysanthemum arcticum, L.
Spiræa betulæfolia, Pallas. Artemisia Tilesii, Ledeb.
Rubus arcticus, L. Arenaria peploides, L.
Epilobium latifolium, L. Gentiana glanca, Pallas.
Polemonium cœvuleum, L. Elymus arenarius, L.
Trientalis europæa, L. var. arctica, Ledeb. Poa trivialis, L.
Entrema arenicola, Hook. Carex vesicaria, L. var. alpigma, Fries.
Iris sibirica, L. Aspidium spinulosum, Sw.

KOTZEBUE SOUND.

The flora of the region about the head of Kotzebue Sound is hardly less luxuriant and rich in species than that of other points visited by the Corwin lying several degrees farther south. Fine nutritious grasses suitable for the fattening of cattle and from 2 to 6 feet high are not of rare occurrence on meadows of considerable extent and along streambanks wherever the stagnant waters of the tundra have been drained off, while in similar localities the most showy of the Arctic plants bloom in all their freshness and beauty, manifesting no sign of frost, or unfavorable conditions of any kind whatever.