34 THE DISTRIBUTION OF HEPATIC IN SCOTLAND 
part being near the sources of the Tweed. In addition 
there are isolated igneous hills in various parts of the 
district, as Arthur’s Seat, Berwick Law, Eildons, Rubers- 
law, ete. The limit of the cultivated region in the Edin- 
burgh district is given by the late Robert Smith in his 
Botanical Survey as 1000 ft. In the Upper Tweed dis- 
trict I tind the limit to be rather lower, oats ceasing to 
ripen above 850 ft. in the Broughton district and at 750 ft. 
at Crook. 
In the cultivated ground there is the usual scarcity of 
hepatics, and the species are the same as those of the West 
Lowlands; but there is a considerable difference in the 
flora of the dens or linns, especially towards the coasts of 
the two districts. Besides the general fact throughout 
Scotland of subalpine species descending to a lower level 
on the west side of the country than they do on the 
east, it is found that where a hilly district is close to the 
coast, subalpine species descend to a lower level than on 
hills more remote from the coast: and as in the East Low- 
lands the hills only approach the coast at one point, while 
they do so to a considerable extent in the West Lowlands, 
subalpine species are rarely found at such a low level in the 
former as in the latter. A more important difference in 
the flora of the district is in the presence or absence of 
various species. There is almost an entire absence of 
Atlantic species in the East Lowlands, the species known 
being only five in number—Lophocolea spicata, found on 
one occasion in a coast ravine in Berwickshire, Seapania 
gracilis and Plagiochila spinulosa in a few localities, the 
two latter species usually in a depauperate state, Lepidozia 
Pearsoni in one subalpine locality, and Madotheca Thaya, 
a Western and Mediterranean species, on rocks on the 
coast. The Plagiochila does not occur near the coast as it 
does on the West Lowlands, but is only found on the wetter 
subalpine region. Leaving out of account the special 
Western species, we find hepatics to be scarcer in general 
on the drier eastern side of the country than on the west. 
This is not so marked in the number of species present in 
both, as in the quantity in which they occur. The great 
majority of hepatics are so widely distributed that a mere 
enumeration of species in countries gives a misleading 
