In Continental Europe, the only Arctic lands properly so called, and distinguished by an Arctic flora, are Russian Lapland and the deeply-indented coast of Northern Russia. Far away to the north, and separated from the continent by a narrow arm of the sea, lie the three almost contiguous islands known as Novaia Zemlaia (lat. 68° 50’ to 76° N.). And still further north, almost equidistant from the Old World and the New, lies the gloomy mountainous archipelago of Spitzbergen (lat. 77° to 81°, and long. 10° to 24°). * * * * * We have now only to recapitulate the general characters of the Arctic flora, as they would present themselves to a traveller advancing from the wooded zone into the desert, and thence to the borders of the Polar Sea. On the southern margin of the wooded region, as in Sweden, Russia, and Siberia, extend immense forests, chiefly of coniferous trees. As we move towards the north these forests dwindle into scattered woods and isolated coppices, composed chiefly of stunted poplars and dwarf birches and willows. The sub-alpine myrtle, and a small creeping honeysuckle with rounded leaves, are met with in favourable situations. Continuing our northerly progress, we wholly leave behind the arborescent species; but the rocks and cliffs are bright with plants belonging to the families of the ranunculaceæ, saxifragaceæ, cruciferæ, and gramineæ. To the dwarf firs and pigmy willows succeed a few scattered shrubs--such as the gooseberry, the strawberry, the raspberry, pseudo-mulberry (_Rubus chamæmorus_)--indigenous to this region, and the Lapland oleander (_Rhododendron laponicum_). Still advancing northward, we find, at the extreme limits of the mainland, some drabas (_Cruciferæ_), potentillas (_Rosaceæ_), burweeds and rushes (_Cyperaceæ_), and lastly a great abundance of mosses and lichens. The commonest mosses are the _Splechnum_, which resembles small umbels; and, in moist places, the _Sphagnum_, or bog-moss, whose successive accumulations, from a remote epoch, have formed, with the detritus of the _Cyperaceæ_, extensive areas of peat, which at a future day will perhaps be utilized for fuel. * * * * * We come now to examine the forms of Animal Life which exist under the conditions of climate and vegetation we have been describing. Foremost we must place the animal which, in the Arctic World, occupies much the same position as the camel in the Tropical,--the reindeer (_Cervus turandus_).