476 



dead it is impossible to say," for no one has as yet found the carcass 

 of any on the Rock. Some think the lowermost caves their mauso- 

 leum, whilst others go even further in their surmise, and suppose that 

 they carry their dead into Africa, through a subterranean passage 

 under the waters of the Mediterranean." Returning to Botany we find 

 that the proportion of flowering plants to feras is greatly in favour of 

 the former, the number of species being 446 flowering plants and 10 

 ferns, or nearly 45 to 1. Of the ten ferns enumerated, seven only 

 were found by our author : of the remaining three, Davallia Canari- 

 ensis is abundant on the oak-trees at Cork-wood, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Gibraltar, and perhaps this is really the habitat indicated by 

 authors as ' Gibraltar :' Nothochlaena lanuginosa is given on the au- 

 thority of Edmund Boissier ; and Asplenium Adiantum-nigrum on 

 that of Dr. Lemann. The seven ferns found by Dr. Kelaart during 

 two years energetic search, are, Cheilanthes odora, Gymnogramraa 

 leptophylla, Notolepeum Ceterach, Phyllitis Hemionitis, Adiantum 

 Capillus-Veneris, Asplenium Trichomanes and Polypodium vulgare. 

 If we take Dr. Kelaart's o«vn researches as the guide, the ratio will be 

 64 to 1. 



In Britain, Mr. Watson supposes the number of truly indigenous 

 flowering plants to be 1200 (see Phytol. i. 358), exclusive of the va- 

 rieties which are made into species by recent authors. Mr. Newman 

 has clearly shown that we have 40 distinct species of ferns, exclusive 

 of Cystopteris regia, C. dentata, C. alpina, Aspidium lobatum, Sm.^ 

 A. irriguum, Sm., A. spinulosum, Sm., A. dumetorum, Srn., Asple- 

 nium fontanum, &c. The authors who increase the number of flower- 

 ing plants would probably increase that of ferns in the same ratio, so 

 that take whose estimate we may, the proportion will be the same, 30 

 to 1. In Iceland the ratio is 25 to 1. In Belgium it is no less than 

 67 to 1. Hence it would appear that the Flora of Gibraltar, notwith- 

 standing the apparent favourable site for the higher ratio of ferns, re- 

 cedes to the low ratio of a completely inland country. The entire 

 absence of the genera Lastraea, Polystichum and Cystopteris is worthy 

 of notice. 



Of the 456 species which Dr. Kelaart reckons truly indigenous to 

 the Rock, 40 are generally distributed throughout Europe, 58 are na- 

 tives of the south of Europe only, 63 are common to Europe gene- 

 rally and Africa, 174 to the south of Europe and Africa, 13 are con- 

 fined to Spain and Barbary, QQ are common to Europe, Asia Minor 

 and the north of Africa, and 12 are confined to Europe and Asia 

 Minor. It should also be added that no less than 140 of the species 



