62 Dr A. Murray on the Influence of Rochs 



Ranunculus, and Hypericum. It appears that all the truly 

 common species in the Aberdeenshire district belonging to those 

 genera are abundant near Edinburgh ; excepting that Polygo- 

 num vivipnrum, Juncus uligtnosus, and Ranunculus hederaceus, 

 appear to be but sparingly distributed; and all are equally com- 

 mon in the environs of Paris, unless Polygonum viviparum, 

 Viola palustris, and Ranunculus hederaceus. The first is not 

 found ; the others are uncommon. 



These extensive examples, which I believe are quite accurate, 

 and certainly they make a near approach to being so, may pro- 

 bably be taken as a fair representation of the similarity between 

 the entire Floras of the regions referred to. In short, the mass 

 of plants common in the Aberdeenshire district is equally so in 

 the vicinity of Paris and of Edinburgh. The plantce rariores 

 of those places might likewise have been compared, but this 

 plan would have been less useful than that which has been pur- 

 sued ; and the task, too, is one for which at present I have not 

 convenience *. 



It is not to be concealed, that around Edinburgh not a few 

 plants are common which are wanting in the Aberdeenshire dis- 

 trict so often referred to ; and there are still more species abun- 

 dant in the environs of Paris that do not belong to any part of 

 Scotland ; but this circumstance, when properly considered, has 

 no material bearing upon the question here discussed, as it is 

 probably unconnected with the nature of the rocks. It might 

 be explained by the climate gradually becoming more favour- 

 able to vegetation as we approach the equator ; though, perhaps, 



• In connexion with these remarks, it may not be uninteresting to ob- 

 serve, that above three-fourths of the flowering plants of all Scotland grow 

 also in the neighbourhood of Paris; and if from the plants found in Scotland, 

 but not around Paris, the alpine, maritime, and rare species be extracted, 

 few indeed remain. In short, there are scarcely in Scotland more than twenty 

 truly common plants, which are not in the Flore des Environs de Paris. It 

 may be worth adding, that the plants wherein the French tract appears more 

 deficient, are Hieraciums and Saxifrages ; and that the plants sometimes 

 reckoned characteristic of Scotland, viz. our heaths, broom, and furze, are all 

 found near Paris, where they appear to be common. I have also gathered, 

 on the banks of the Seine, Onopordum Acanthium, the plant which in this 

 country has occasionally a place in processions, from being considered that 

 thistle which is emblematic of Scotland. Near Paris it is common, whereas 

 in this country it is rare, appearing confined to a few stations in the south. 

 2 



