Bryophyta of Arctic America. VI. A Collection From Prince Patrick Island

Abstract

While engaged in field work in arctic Canada during the summer of 1949, the well-known collector, Mr. 'Charles 0. Handlley, Jr., of the Division of Mammals of the United States National Museum, obtained an excellent series of mosses and hepatics on Prince Patrick Island. Since the bryophytes of this remote area have remained completely unknown until now, a special acknowledgment should be made to Mr. Handley for his painstaking and industrious attention to a group of organisms far removed from the center of his professional interest, the mammals. The specimens were received for identification through the courtesy of the United States National Herbarium, where the collection is now deposited. Prince Patrick Island, the northern of the two westernmost islands of the whole Canadian arctic archipelago, is situated between the parallels of 760 and 780 N. Bisected by the 120th meridian (W. Long.), this island lies due north of Banks Island, and of Great Bear Lake on the Canadian mainland. The great majority of the specimens reported upon here were collected in the vicinity of the weather station at Mould Bay (760 14' N., 1190 50' W.), at the southeast corner of the island, but a few are from Intrepid Inlet, which also faces the Crozier Channel somewhat farther north. As commander of H.M.S. 'Intrepid,' one of five ships under the command of Sir Edward Belcher, Captain Leopold McClintock discovered, fully explored and named Prince Patrick Island in 1853. Although this last official expedition sent out by the British Government to search for Sir John Franklin failed in its primary mission, a later expedition under private auspices, with MdClintock in command of the yacht 'Fox,' finally solved the mystery of the disappearance of Franklin and his ships (McClintock, 1859). The rigors of life and travel in arctic America prevented most of the early explorers from making botanical collections, especially of lower plants, and no bryophytes at all seem to have been known from Prince Patrick Island prior to Mr. Handley's visit, a circumstance that adds unusual importance to his collection. As wiAl be seen from the following catalogue of 5 species of hepatics and 93 of mosses, Handley's collection adds very considerably to our knowledge of the geographical distribution of bryophytes in northernmost America, filling in a previously unknowln western segment of the Canadian arctic archipelago. Species of especial significance in this collection, as representing major extensions of geographic range, are: Aulacomnium acuminatum, Barbula icmadophila, Bryobrittonia pellucida, Ceratodon heterophyllus, Cinclidium latifolium, Ctenidium molluscum, C. procerrimum, Desmatodon leucostomus, Distichium hageni, Drepanocladus lycopodioides, Hygrohypnum polare, Pottia heimii var. obtusifolia, Psilopilum cavifolium, Trichostomum cuspidatissimum, Stegonia latifolia, and Voitia hyperborea. Thebryophyte flora of Prince Patrick Island, as revealed by Mr. Handley's