26 Mr. H. T. Mennell's Azotes on l^orway. 



Ice, as a scooper out of valleys, acts in this way, scooping out a 

 furrow not of uniform depth, and acting less powerfully and 

 scooping less deeply as it proceeds on its course. The sharp 

 definition of these fissures at the present day may probably be 

 due to the fact that they have been filled up with ice from the 

 time of their formation up to very recent times. 



The climate at the present day is powerfully affected by the 

 Gulf Stream. In latitudes uninhabitable in Eastern Siberia, 

 the climate in Norway is mild, and the sea does not freeze. The 

 isothermal lines run from N.W. to S.E., so that the Loffoten 

 Islands in the North have the same January temperature as 

 Copenhagen, and the mean temperature of the North Cape is 

 the same (35°) as at Ostersund in Jemtland, 552 miles further 

 south. 



The rainfall on the coast is enormous, being 72 in. at Bergen, 

 but it steadily and rapidly diminishes as we go eastward ; so 

 that at the head of the Sogne fiord it is only 23 in., or about the 

 same as we have here. 



The cultivated land in Norway is of very limited extent, being 

 only 1074 square miles. Owing to the long Arctic days, barley 

 ripens in the same number of days from the time of sowing 

 (90 days), as in the South of France. 



The botanical features of the country have close affinity to 

 those of Scotland, or we should say, more correctly, the flora of 

 Scotland is distinctly Scandinavian. It is for this reason that 

 the Norwegian flora is of much interest to the English botanist ; 

 but the flora, which only survives on the higher mountains of 

 Scotland, and the species which are of the greatest rarity there, 

 in Norway prevail down to the sea-level, and in great profusion. 

 Ericaceous plants, or plants of the heath tribe, are perhaps the 

 most striking features of this flora ; Memiesia (2 species), 

 Androrneda, Vacci7iium (5 species), including the beautiful cran- 

 berry, and our ordinary heaths, abound and are of great beauty. 

 In this respect there is much resemblance to the swamp flora of 

 the central regions of Canada, and the geological record is also 

 much the same — primary (Laurentian) rocks, uncovered by 

 stratified rocks. Saxi/rca/a oppositifolia, S. aizoides, Silene acanlis. 

 Lychnis viscaria, Aster alpimis — and, among ferns, Asplniium 

 septentrionale and Woodsia — all British rarities, abound, and are 

 of great beauty. Ru7inncidus r/lacialis and aconitifolins, Aconitxim 

 alpinuin (monkshood), Saxifraga cotyledon (with its fine feathery 

 spikes of delicate white flowers), Silene rupestris, are among the 

 more striking alpines which are not British. 



In the woods, at not very high elevations, the lovely creeping 

 Linnaa borealis, Connis suecica, Trientah's europcea, and Pyiola 

 grandiflora are in the utmost profusion, and must attract the 

 admiration of all, whether botanists or not, by their beauty. 



