of the White Mountains. 101 



the majesty of Him to whom the sea belongs, and whose hand 

 formed the dry land, the continuance of these little plants preaches 

 the same lessons of humble faith in the divine promises and laws, 

 which our Lord drew from the lihes of the field. 



It is suggestive in connection with the antiquity and migra- 

 tions of these plants, to consider the differences in this respect of 

 some closely allied species of the same genera. Of the blueberries 

 that grow on the White Mountains, one species, Vacdnium ulig- 

 inosurifij is found at Behring's Straits and in northern Europe. 

 F. ccespitosum has a wide northern range in America, but is not 

 European. V. Pennsylvanicam and V. Canadense from their 

 geographical distribution do not seem to belong to the arctic 

 flora at all, but to be of more southern origin. The two bear- 

 berries {Arctostaioliylos uva-ursi and alpina), occur together on 

 the White Hills, and on the Scottish and Scandinavian moun- 

 tains, but the former is a plant of much wider and more southern 

 distribution in America than the latter. Two of the dwarf wil- 

 lows of the White Mountains i^Salix repens and S. herhacea), are 

 European as well as American, but aS^. uva-ursi seems to be con- 

 fined to America. Ruhus trijiorus, the dwarf raspberry, and E. 

 Chamoemorus, the cloud-berry, climb about equally high on Mount 

 Washington, but the former is exclusively American and ranges 

 pretty far southward, while the latter extends no farther south 

 than the northern coast of Maine, and is distributed all around 

 the arctic regions of the Old and New Worlds. It is to be ob- 

 served, however, that the former can thrive on rich and calca- 

 reous soils, while the latter loves those that are barren and grani- 

 tic ; but it is nevetheless probable that R. trifloms belongs to a 

 later and more local flora. Similar reasons would induce the be- 

 lief that the American dwarf cornel or pigeon-berry, (^Cornus 

 Canadensis)^ whose distribution is solely American and not pro- 

 perly arctic, is of later origin than the C. Suecica, which occurs 

 in northern America locally, and is extensively distributed in 

 northern Europe. 



I can but glance at such points as these ; but they raise great 

 questions which are to be worked out, not merely by the patient 

 collection of facts, but by a style of scientific thought very much 

 above those which on the one hand escape such problems by the 

 supposition of multiplied centres of creation, or on the other, 

 render their solution worthless by confounding races due to ex- 

 ternal disturbing causes with species originally distinct. Diffi- 



