788 



both in England and Scotland — to be Britons in the fullest significa- 

 tion of the terra. It is probable that about two-fifths of the whole 

 number of British species (including ' natives,' ' denizens,' ' colonists,' 

 as presently to be explained) will be referred to this, the most gene- 

 ral type of distribution ; although, at present, the number cannot be 

 exactly stated. Among the more thorough examples of the type may 

 be instanced the following, namely, Alnus glutinosa, Betula alba, 

 Corylus Avellana, Salix caprasa, Rosa canina, Lonicera Periclyme- 

 num, Hedera Helix, Cylisus scoparius, Calluna vulgaris. Ranunculus 

 acris, Cerastium viscosum, Potentilla Tormentilla, Trifolium repens, 

 Stellaria media, Lotus corniculatus, Bellis perennis, Senecio vulgaris, 

 Carduus palustris, Taraxacum officinale, Myosotis arvensis. Prunella 

 vulgaris, Plantago lanceolata, Polygonum aviculare, Urtica dioica, 

 Potamogeton natans, Lemna minor, Juncus efFusus, Carex panicea, 

 Poa annua, Festuca ovina, Anthoxanthum odoratum, Pteris aquilina, 

 Polypodium vulgare, Lastraea Filix-mas. 



" 2. The E)iglish Type. — The plants of this geographic type are 

 distinguished from those of the British type by having their chief 

 prevalence in England, and particularly in its more southern pro- 

 vinces ; whence they gradually become rare in a northern direction, 

 and finally (with few peculiar exceptions) find an earlier northern li- 

 mit or cessation than those of the preceding type. Their terminal 

 lines are very different among themselves ; some of the species being 

 entirely limited to two or three of the most southern provinces of 

 England ; while other species occur in all the provinces of Britain, 

 with an exception of two or three of the most northern ; the great 

 majority having their limits between these two extremes. Those 

 species which extend into nearly all the provinces, except two or 

 three of the northern, approximate very closely to the less general 

 examples of the British type ; and, in fact, thei'e are cases where it 

 becomes almost optional whether the species are to be referred to the 

 one or to the other type. To the characters of diminished frequency 

 and earlier northern termination, which distinguish the species of the 

 English from those of the British type, must be added that of spread- 

 ing into both the eastern and the western provinces of England, and 

 without any very striking difference of comparative frequency towards 

 the two sides of the island, beyond that which may be caused by the 

 repellent influence of the western mountains, which necessarily tend 

 to banish such species as are naturally adapted to low situation, in a 

 warmer and drier climate than that of our mountainous tracts. The 

 name of ' English Type ' will not be misunderstood to indicate that 



