e flora of Greenland, have come to the conclusion that a survival of
flowering plants has taken place in Greenland itself from pre-glacial
times. According to Professor Nathorst (p. 200), only a few plants could
have survived the Glacial period in Greenland. The species now peculiar
to that country may perhaps, he thinks, be the remnants of those which
existed in pre-glacial times. Mr. Warming, on the other hand, is of
opinion that the main mass of Greenland's present flora survived the
Glacial period there (p. 403), and that the remainder was carried from
Europe and North America by occasional means of distribution of the
nature indicated by Darwin.

Very similar views on the origin of the present Polar flora are
expressed by Colonel Feilden, who says, "To my mind it seems
indisputable that several plants now confined to the Polar area must
have originated there and have outlived the period of greatest
ice-development in that region" (_b_, p. 50). No land-connection at all
need be supposed to have existed in recent geological times, that is to
say, during the Glacial period or after, if Mr. Warming's and Colonel
Feilden's views be adopted. A pre-glacial connection would be sufficient
to explain the general features of distribution. An admission is thus
obtained from these two independent authorities that the climate during
the Glacial period must have been vastly less severe in the Polar
Regions than is generally conceded. I am of opinion that not only the
whole of the present flora, but also the fauna of Greenland survived the
Glacial period in that country.

If we suppose that an extensive centre of origin existed in the Polar
area, or we may say in Greenland, both animals and plants would have
been able to spread from it into Northern Europe and North America by
means of the land-connections which are generally supposed to have
existed in pliocene times, that is to say, just before the commencement
of the Glacial period. There must have been at this time a connection
too between Scotland and Scandinavia, which will be dealt with more
fully presently. The important point is to consider what light the
Greenland flora and fauna will throw upon the problem of the continuity
of the aforesaid land-connection during the Glacial period. We have seen
that the Barren-ground Reindeer, a typically Polar species, penetrated
as far south as the Pyrenees, the Arctic Hare went as far, while a
number of other species of Polar anima