212 Biographical Memoir of the late Christian Smith: 



of the coast is not well suited to it, and the limits of its growth 

 will sink, on that account, in proportion as the warmth of the 

 summer is diminished. Smith shews this with the barometer in 

 his hand. He found the limits of the birch in 604° north lati- 

 tude, to be at the height of 3384 Parisian feet. Some miles 

 farther on,, in the direction of the great mountain chain, birches 

 already disappear at the height of 3325. In descending towards 

 the sea, over Ulensvang, its limit is found to be 2803. On the 

 west side of Folge Fonden, it descends to 1837. Lastly, it is 

 found at only 1776, on the Gocnnequiting, near Tuse, which 

 lies within sight of the ocean. Here the birch can only reach 

 half of its height on the east side. With this warmth of sum- 

 mer, however, disappear the magnificent forests of pine (abies) : 

 in the valleys are no longer to be seen the showy flowers of Aco- 

 nitum Lycoctonum, of Pedicularis sceptrura Carolinum, or of 

 Pedicularis Oederi, otherwise so common on the eastern side of 

 Norway. There is no longer to be found Andromeda hyp- 

 noides, Menziesia coerulea, Primuk stricta (Horn.), Lychnis 

 apetala, Viola biflora, Aira subspicata, Carex rotundata, Juncus 

 arcuatus (Vahl), Splachnum serratum, luteum, rubrum, &c. 

 plants which unite the east side of Norway with Russia and 

 Siberia. On the other band, the vegetation of Scotland appears 

 on the mountains of the west side. These are quite covered 

 with the Scots fir (Pinus sylvestris), while the vales in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the sea are adorned with the beautiful Digitalis 

 purpurea, which is unknown in other parts of Norway. On the 

 declivities of the hills,, Hieracium aurantiacum spreads its gol- 

 den flower, and Gentiana purpurea is of frequent occurrence, 

 which no one would scarcely have expected to find beyond the 

 Alps. -Bunium bulbocastanum, Anthericum ossifragum, Se- 

 dum anglicum, Chrysosplenium oppositifolium, Centaurea ni- 

 gra, Hypericum pulchrum, Erica cinerea, Rosa spinosissima, 

 Lycopodium inundatum, all plants which would be sought in 

 vain where the birch ascends to 3000 feet high, but which are 

 common in the British Isles, are not unfrequent and often quite 

 common in the districts on the sea-coast of Norway. Even Ilex 

 aquifolium and Hedera helix, which cannot survive the winter 

 in a great part of Germany, thrive excellently on the west coa«t 

 of this roimtrv. 



