NEW PUBLICATIONS. 237 



timony wliicli may itself be insufficient to convince, or be suggestive 

 of error. Differences of opinion are inevitable under sucli circum- 

 stances ; and probably we might have rejected some of the plants 

 which Professor Babingtou retains in the list ; while in very few in- 

 stances should we have kept in the plants which are discarded by him. 

 Bigitalis purpwea, Geraniitm plueuni, Sedum album, Hedera Helix, Salix 

 ptirpurea, and some others seem little likely to be really native in Ice- 

 land. But perhaps the most remarkable case of acceptance and rejec- 

 tion, is that of our two Heaths, the Erica cinerea and U. Tetralix. Both 

 are on record for Iceland, testified by different observers, and said to 

 be found in different localities, Tetralix in the " lava districts," and 

 cinerea " in various places." The former is accepted into the regular 

 Icelandic list, while the latter is rejected ; no reason being assigned in 

 either case. Both occur in the more southern parts of Norway ; both 

 extend to Shetland ; and they ascend our Highland mountains to nearly 

 equal elevations, Tetralix rather the higher. But the cinerea alone 

 occurs in the intermediate group of Faroe Isles, and thus comes geo- 

 graphically nearest to Iceland ; yet it is the rejected species. Likely 

 enough Professor Babingtou had himself some reason for making a 

 distinction between them which seems almost whimsical while unex- 

 plained. 



A correct Plora of Iceland was highly desirable, because the geo- 

 graphical position of that island gives it an intimate relation with cer- 

 tain phyto-geographical and phyto-geological theories about the mi- 

 grations of arctic plants southwards, and their gradual re-migration 

 northwards, during and subsequent to the glacial period in geologic 

 history. It is a sort of link or stepping ground, too, between Scandi- 

 navia and boreal America ; and the affinities of its flora, scanty though 

 it be in number of species, have considerable interest through that 

 intermediate position. It has not been within the author's plan to 

 enter upon these matters, which might have unduly expanded his 

 ' Revision' into a volume, instead of it being kept to the dimensions 

 of an article in a Society's journal. 



But the author does slightly touch upon the geographical relations 

 of the flora treated, by presenting to his readers a separated " List of 

 Icelandic Plants not Natives of Britain ;" and in that list he spe- 

 cially adds to the name of each plant enumerated the words " Scandi- 

 navian," " European," " Arctic and Lapland," or other brief intimation 



