30 R. BRAITHWAITE ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OP 



offer in the wild mountains of Braemar and Glen Lyon, that we 

 indeed feel alone with Nature, and with Nature's God. 



The lively green of more temperate climes is nowhere visible 

 among the far-and-wide spreading mosses of the Arctic Northern 

 Zone, yet among them are found scattered some species which 

 even excel in beauty those of the most favoured countries, witness 

 these Splachna luteum and ruhrum, which do not descend to the 

 most northern point of Britain, yet form a striking object in the 

 bogs of Lapland and N. Russia. As we proceed southward, new 

 species are added to the list, the trees lose their lichens, and often 

 support mosses, though the Sphagnum swamps are still a noticeable 

 feature. Besides the Splachna mentioned, we have also S. Worm- 

 skioldii and vasculosum, the latter reaching the Scotch mountains, 

 with (Edipodium, Psilopilum arcticum, a number of Hypnacea? and 

 Bryaceas, and various species of Andrecea and Dicranum which are 

 confined to the northern zone. 



The Middle Zone, embracing the greatest extent of country and 

 the most varied surface, is also the richest in species, many of 

 which pass over the northern and southern boundaries into the cor- 

 responding zones. Six hundred species of mosses have been 

 enumerated in this zone, and some are characteristic of it, as several 

 of the Phascoid group, Anmctangium Hornschucliianum and Sendt- 

 nerianum, Braunia sciuroides, Tetrodontium repandum, Encalypta 

 longicolla and apophysata, &c. 



The Southern Zone having a more elevated temperature, and 

 wanting the dense forests of central Europe, is less adapted to the 

 growth of mosses, and the list falls to 340 species ; yet the slopes 

 of the Pyrenees and Apennines have a rich bryological flora, and 

 some species' are peculiar to the Mediterranean area as Phascum 

 Carniolicum, Bruchia Trobasiana, Fabronia, Fissidens grandifrons, 

 rivularis, and Sardous, and especially a number of Trichostomaceae, 

 some of which, encouraged by the higher temperature of the coast, 

 creep up the Atlantic shore of France, and extend over to the 

 south of Ireland and south-west of England, and thus become 

 rarities in the British Flora ; of these I may mention Tortula 

 squarrosa, Vahliana and cuneifolia, Trichostomum flavo-virens, cris- 

 pulum and brachydontium, with Bryum Tozeri, torquescens and Doni- 

 anum, Leptodon Smithii, Daltonia splachnoides and Hookeria Icete- 

 virens. 



For a similar reason the coast of Norway, and its parallel 



