294 SAGACITY AND MORALITY OF PLANTS. 



British tribes took shelter, as the Welsh and Gaelic 

 languages of North Wales and the Highlands of 

 Scotland indicate. 



As might be expected, when we consider all the 

 circumstances, our southern flora is by no means so 

 numerously represented as the northern. The latter 

 may be found on all our hills and mountains, mar- 

 vellously increasing in number of species as we get 

 farther on into Sutherlandshire, as was to be looked 

 for, although it must not be forgotten that the sea 

 cuts it off now from its original Scandinavian home. 



During the extreme cold of the " Great Ice Age," 

 this Arctic flora extended as far south as the Pyre- 

 nees. Hence we find there many of the same kinds 

 of plants as now grow within the polar circle. The 

 Alps of Switzerland are equally rich in Arctic species, 

 and many of the most beautiful kinds collected by 

 the tourist, high up the mountains, belong to this 

 group. Out of six hundred and eighty-five species 

 of flowering plants now found in Lapland, one 

 hundred and eight grow in Switzerland, and sixty- 

 eight in the Pyrenees. 



Darwin makes especial mention of these ancient 

 floral migrations, and in one place, after describing 

 the close of the Glacial Period, he says : " As the 

 warmth returned, the Arctic forms would retreat 

 northwards, closely followed up in their retreat by 

 the productions of the more temperate regions, and 

 as the snow melted from the bases of the mountains 



