Proceedings. 57 



records; whilst Scotland contains 46; Wales, 10; the south- 

 coast counties, Dorset to Kent, contain 26 ; the eastern coun- 

 ties, Lincoln, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, and Essex, 17 ; 

 the six northern counties, 13 ; Shropshire, Hereford, Mon- 

 mouth, Gloucester, Worcester, Wilts, Oxford, Middlesex, 

 and Surrey, amongst them, 26 ; leaving to the Midlands 

 but 3 records, which occur in Derbyshire, Warwickshire, 

 and Bedfordshire. 



Here we seem to trace pretty clearly two distinct classes, 

 Highland and Sea-board. Scotland, Wales, and the hilly 

 parts of Durham, Yorkshire, Westmorland, and Derby contain 

 local plants of the Highland type ; and it is likely that these 

 once flourished at a much lower level than at present, and 

 that Ci/stopteris alpina and Pohjijala austriaca var. uUfiinosa in 

 Upper Teesdale, amongst others, are remnants of a flora once 

 far less restricted. But then we have a second station for 

 P. austriaca, on Wye Down, in Kent, near the sea-board, and 

 it is impossible to assign any reason why these two stations, 

 separated by 200 miles, should be the only stations for it. Is 

 it fair to regard it in Yorkshire as a survival, and in Kent as 

 an alien or a colonist ? Amongst other agents checking the 

 growth of these plants at lower elevations may be the ravages 

 of slugs, from which we may suppose them to be fairly free 

 on the wild hill- tops where they now flourish. I have noticed 

 Viola arenana, MyosoUs alpestris, and Polygala ulujinosa, all 

 attacked by slugs in my garden. 



Turning to Cornwall, with its large flora of local rarities, 

 are we to regard them as sheltering in the peninsula, like the 

 Druids of old, after being chased by the advance of civilisation 

 out of the rest of England? or is it not more likely that 

 Erica vayaiis, the three TriJ'oliums [Alolinerii, Bocconi, and 

 strictiuii), the two Alliuvis (sibiricum and triquetrutn) , the two 

 Jiinci (capitata and pyijmcBus), and other Cornish rarities are 

 rather seeking to gain a footing in our island, and are now 

 effecting an entrance through our southernmost county ? 

 Perhaps the advance of some of them has been checked by 

 moi'e severe cold as they have tried to spread north-eastward. 



So with other south-coast plants, such as Giadiulius com- 



